The Evening post hundredth anniversary, November 16, 1801-1901

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Evening post hundredth anniversar

3 1924 027 499 809

ALEXANDER HAMILTON

One ut the tuiinders ot The Evening Post

1801-1901

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CopyrigJit , 1Q02
THE E VEXING POST PUBLISHING CO.

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Pref

ace

|HE Evening Post celebrated, on November
1 6, 1 90 1, its hundredth anniversary. For
this occasion a special number was issued,
consisting ot three regular sections of the
newspaper, a tac-simile ot the hrst number,
and an ilkistrated magazine supplement with
a colored cover. The history ot the Evening
Post trom I 801 to 181^1 was condensed from
an account written by William Cullen Bryant tor the
semi-centennial celebration ot i 8 i^ i ; the history of the
next three decades was covered by John Bigelow and
Parke Godwin, both connected tor many years with the
newspaper ; and the history since the change in owner-
ship in I 88 I, when the Evening Post passed into the
hands of Henry \^il]ard, by Carl Schurz and by the
present editor, Horace White. It had been hoped that
Edwin L. Godkin ux^uld be able to give some account
of his noteworthy services as editor trom 188:; to
1899, but he was prevented by ill-health trom sending
more than a tew words ot kindly greeting. In addi-
tion to the history Oii the newspaper, a number ot
present and tormer members ot the staff, among them
Charlton T. Lewis, William A. Linn, Watson R.
Sperry, J. Ranken Towse, F. E. Leupp, and Clarence
Deming, contributed interesting reminiscences. There
were also articles on the social and business conditions

ot New York City a century ago, on the literary his-
tory ot the Evening Post, and on early journalism in
New York and other large American cities.

Aside from the publication of this centennial
number, the anniversary day was marked by an event
of much interest to all friends of the newspaper — the
luncheon at which a number of the foremost citizens
of New York entertained the Trustees and members
of the editorial staff in the library ot the Equitable
Building. The Hon. Abram S. Hewitt, who pre-
sided, and Carl Schurz, St. Clair McKelway, Andrew
Carnegie, James C. Carter, Joseph C. Hendrix, Arch-
bishop Corrigan, Presidents J. G. Schurman, of Cor-
nell, and Francis L. Patton, ot Princeton, made ad-
dresses, and Horace White, Wendell Phillips Garrison,
and Oswald Garrison Villard responded on behalf ot
the Evening Post. In the evening the Trustees gave
a dinner at the Hardware Club to the one hundred
and eighty employees ot the newspaper.

This memorial volume contains a selection of the
more important matters in the centennial issue and a
complete account of the proceedings at the luncheon.
In publishing this hook, the Editor acknowledges in-
debtedness to Philip G. Hubert, Jr., whose skill as a
writer and editor was shown in every page of the cen-
tennial issue, to the artists Taber Sears, Thomas Sin-
delar, and Brown & Williams, and to all others, em-
ployees and triends ot the Evening Post, whose generous
expenditure ot time and energy contributed so much
to the success ot the anniversary.

A Brief History of

the Evening Post

T/ie First Half Cefitury

BY WILLIAM CULLEN BR-i ANT

THE first number ot the Kvening Post was issued on
the i6th ot November, 1801. The contrast between
the Evening Post of 1801 and that of to-dav is no
more extraordinary than the contrast between the New York
of that period and ot the present. It was then a citv of
60,000 inhabitants. Steam, electricity, gas, railways, steam-
boats, water-mains, sewers, public schools, and uniformed
policemen and firemen were unknown. The first copy of
the Evening Post was printed on a hand-press such as P'ranklin
used. In 1851, for the semi-centennial ot the Evening Post,
Mr. Bryant prepared the following account ot the first half
century of the newspaper's existence. It appeared in the
Evening Post, November 15, 1851 :

On the [5th inst. closed the first halt century of the
Evening Post. It mav not be without entertainment to our
readers, and, perhaps, not entirely without instruction, if we
now take a brief suryey ot its past history ; in other words,,
if we write the Lite ot the Evening Post.

The first number ot tiie Evening Post appeared on the
i6th of November, 1801, printed on a sheet a little more
than a quarter of the present size ot the journal. It was
established by William Coleman, a barrister trom Massa-
chusetts, then in the prime ot manhood, who had won the
good will of the distinguished Eederalists of that day — Ham-

THE R V E X I xX G P O S T

ilton, King, Jav, and nian\' others, worthy bv their talents
and personal character to he the associates oi these eminent
men. They saw in Mr. Coleman a combmation ot qualities
which seemed to fit him tor the conductor of" a dail\' political

paper in those times of
tervid and acrimonious
contro\'ers\", and several
ot the most public-spirit-
ed of them furnished him
the means ot entering;
upon the undertaking.

Mr. Coleman was a
man ot robust make, ot
great appearance ot phys-
ical strength, and ot that
temperament which some
physiologists call the
sanguine. He was tond
ot pleasure, but capable
ot exertion when the oc-
casion required it, and,
as he was not disinclined
to controxersy, the occa-
sion otten arose. His
temper was generous and
sincere, his manners kind
and courteous; he was aK\a\s read\" to meet more than
halt wa\- the ad\-ances ot an enemx' ; a kind or appealing
word disarmed his resentment at once, and a pititul story,
e\'en though a little improbable, alwa\s mo\'ed his compas-
sion. He delighted m athletic exercises betore his health
tailed, and while \et residing m Massachusetts is said, m
Buckingham's Reminiscences, to ha\'e skated m an e\'ening
from Greenfield to Northampton, a distance ot t\yent\ miles.
He was naturalb courageous, and hax'ing entereci into a

WILLIAM COLEMAN

Editor of Tlie Evening Posr, 1801-29

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY

party,

dispute, he never sought to decline anv ot its consequences.
His reading lav much in the lighter literature ot our lan-
guage, and a certain elegance of scholarship which he had the
reputation of possessing was reckoned among his qualifica-
tions as a journalist.

The original prospectus ot the K\'ening Post, though
somewhat measured m its style, was well written. The
editor, while avowing his attachment to the Federal
acknowledges that "in
each part\' are honest
and virtuous men," and
expresses his persuasion
that the people need onlv
to be well informed to
decide public questions
rightlv. He seems to
contemplate a wider
sphere of objects than
most secular newspapers
of the present dav, and
speaks of his design " to
inculcate just principles
in religion," as well as m
"morals and politics."
Some attempt was made
to carrv out this inten-
tion. In one ot the earlier
numbers is a communica-
tion in reply to a heresy
avowed by the American Citizen, a Democratic daih' paper
of that time, in which it had been maintained that the soul
was material, and that death was a sleep ot the mind as
well as the bod\'. Still later, in an editorial article, appeared
a somewhat elaborate discussion ot the design ot the Revela-
tion of St. John.

XS'ILLIAM LKGGKTT,

Assist.int Editor nf" The Evcniim I'"!

18:0-56

12 T H E E V E N i N G P O S T

New York, at that time, contained little more than sixtv
thousand inhabitants, and scarcely extended north of the Citv
Hall and its park. Beyond, along Broadway, were then
country houses and green fields. That vast system of foreign
and internal intercourse, those facilities of communication by
sail, by steamers, by railways, the advertisements ot which
now fill column after column in our largest daily newspapers,
was not then dreamed of; and the few ships and sloops
soliciting freight and passengers did not furnish advertise-
ments enough to fill a single column m the small sheet of
the Evening Post. Yet the names which appear m the
advertisements of its very first number indicate a certain per-
manence m the mercantile community.

Among the advertisements in the early numbers of the
paper are some which show that the domestic slave trade was
then in existence in the State of New York. In one, "a
vouna; negro woman, twenty-one years of age," " capable ot
all kinds of work, and an excellent cook," was offered tor
sale, "for want of employment." A black woman, " twent\ -
six years of age, and agood cook," was offered for sale "on
reasonable terms." The advertisers seem to have been
willing to avoid publicity in this matter, for no names are
given; but in the first ot these cases the purchaser is referreci
to the printer, and in the other the name ot the street and
number of the house at which application is to be made are
given.

In the outset, Mr. Coleman made an effort to a\'oid those
personal contro\'ersies which at the time were so common
among conductors ot party papers, and with which their
columns were so much occupied. In the leading article of
his first number, sio;ned with his initials, he expresses his
abhorrence of "personal virulence, low sarcasm, and verbal
contentions with printers and editors," and his determination
not to be diverted from " the line of temperate discussion."
He found this resolution ciifficult to keep.

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 13

The Evening Post of the 24th of November records the
death of PhiHp Hamilton, eldest son ot Gen. Alexander
Hamilton, in the twentieth year ot his age —" murdered,"
savs the editor, " in a duel." The practice ot duelling is then
denounced as a " horrid custom, ' the remedv for which must
be "strong and pointed legislative interterence," inasmuch
" as fashion has placed it on a footing which nothing short ot
that can control." Fhe editor himself belonged to the class
with which fashion had placed it upon that tooting, and was
destmed hmiselt to be drawn bv her power into the practice
he so strongh deprecated.

Cheetham then edited the Citizen. On the next dav, in
a discussion occasioned bv the duel in which young Hamilton
fell, he mentioned Cheetham, and spoke of " the insolent
vulgarity of that base wretch." At a subsequent period, the
Evening Post went so far as, in an article reflecting severely
upon Cheetham and Duane, to admit the tollowing squib into
its columns :

" Lie on, Duane, lie on tor pa\',
And Clieetham, lie tlioa too :
More against truth vou cannot sav
Than trutli can sav 'gainst vou."

These wranglings were continued a few vears, until the
Citizen made a personal attack upon Mr. Coleman ot so
outrageous a nature that he determined to notice it in another
manner. Cheetham was challenged. He was ready enough
in a war of words, but he had no inclination to pursue it to
such a result. The friends of the parties interfered ; a sort
of truce was patched up, and the Citizen consented to become
more reserved in its future assaults.

A subsequent affair, of a similar nature, in which Mr.
Coleman was engaged, was attended with a tatal termination.
A Mr. Thompson had a difference with him which ended in
a challenge. The parties met in Love Lane, now Twenty-
iirst Street, and Thompson fell. He was brought, mortally

"4

T H 1{ K V E N I N G P O S T

wounded, to his sister's house in town ; he was laid at the
door, the hell was rung, the family came out, and found him
hleeding and near his death. He refused to name his an-
tagonist, or gi\e an\ account of the affair, declaring that

* 1 ■ " ■ T?f - « J . "ft^

^J^'^ZMU^

PARK ROW IN iSoi, I'ROM THE SITE Oh' THE PRESENT FRANKLIN STATUE

everything which hail been done was honorablv done, and
desired that no attempt should be made to seek out or molest
his adversary. Mr. Coleman returned to New York and
continued to occupv hnnself with his paper as before.

When the Kvening Post was established, \N'illiam Dunlap,

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY' i ;

author of a ' History of the Arts of Design,' and a 'History
of the American Stage,' whose books are in the hands of
many ot our readers, and whose paintings, after he returned
to his original profession as an artist, man\' of them have
seen, \yas manager of the Park Theatre. At that time
the fashionable part of the New York population were much
more frequent in their attendance to the theatre than now,
and the Evening Post contained frequent theatrical criticisms,
written with no little care, and dwelHng at considerable length
on the merits and faults of the performers. Public concerts
were also criticised with some minuteness. Still lighter sub-
jects sometimes engaged the attention of the editor. In 1802
the styles of the ladies' dresses were such as to call forth, in
certain quarters, remarks similar to those which are now often
made on the Bloomer costume. On the i8th of May, 180;,
the P.vening Post, answering a female correspondent who
asks why it has not, like the other newspapers, censured the
prevailing mode, says :

" Female dress of the modern Parisian cut, however de-
ficient in point ot the ornament \ulgarly called clothing, must
at least be allowed to be not entirely without its advantages.
If there is danger of its making the gentlenien too prompt to
advance, let it not be unobserved that it fits the lad\' to
escape. Unlike the dull draper\' of petticoats worn some
years since, but now banished to the nursery or kitchen,
the present light substitute gu'es an air of celentv which
seems to say — Catch me if vou can."

In the Eyening Post, during the first twenty \-ears of its
existence, there is much less discussion of public questions
by the editors than is now common in all classes of news-
papers. 7"he editorial articles were mostly brief, with but
occasional exceptions, nor does it seem to have been regarded,
as it now is, necessary for a daily paper to pronounce a
prompt judgment on every question of a public nature the
moment it arises. The annual message sent by Mr. Jefterson

BRYANT AT TH K AGE 0\- SE\'E NTV-FI VE

HUNDREDTH ANNI\ERSARY 17

to Congress in i8o[ was published in the Evening Post
ot the 1 2th of December, without a word of remark. On the
17th, a writer who takes the signature of Lucius Crassus begins
to examine it. The examination is continued through the
whole winter, and finally, after having extended to eighteen
numbers, is concluded on the 8th of April. The resolutions
ot General Smith tor the abrogation of discriminating duties,
laid before Congress in the same winter, were published with-
out comment, but a tew days afterwards thev were made the
subject of a carefully written animadversion, continued
through several numbers ot the paper.

Mr. Coleman had no skill as a manager ot property ; he
took little thought for the morrow ; when he happened to
have any money, it was spent freely, or given away, or some-
body who would never return it contrived to borrow it. In a
short time the finances of the Evening Post became greatly
contused and embarrassed. From its first appearance, the
journal bore, in a card at the bottom of its final column, the
name ot Michael Burnham as the printer and publisher ; he
had, however, no property in the paper. Mr. Burnham was
a voung printer from Hartford, in Connecticut, a man of
sense, probity, and decision, industrious and frugal, with an
excellent capacity for business; in short, he was just such a
man as every newspaper ought to have among its proprietors,
in order to insure its prosperity. The friends of Mr. Coleman
saw the importance of associating Mr. Burnham with him in the
ownership ot the paper, and negotiations were opened tor the
purpose. The result was, that the entire control of the
finances of the Evening Post was placed in Mr. Burnham's
hands, under such regulations as were prescribed in the
articles of copartnership. From that time the affairs of the
journal became prosperous; it began to yield a respectable
revenue ; Mr. Coleman was relieved from his pecuniary embar-
rassments and Mr. Burnham began to grow rich. He died
in the beginning of i8j6, worth $200,000, acquired partly

T H p: e \' e n ] n g post

by his prudent management of the concerns of the paper,

and partly by the rise in the value of real estate. Mr.

Coleman died in 1829, worth, perhaps, a quarter of that sum.

About the year 18 19, the health of Mr. Coleman was

serioush' affected by a
paralytic attack. Until
then he had found no
occasion for a coadjutor
m his labors as an editor.
Several slighter shocks
followed; his lower limbs
became gradually weak
and unmanageable, until
he was wholly unable to
walk without support.
Different assistants were
called in from time to
time, but thev were again
dismissed as soon as Mr.
Coleman was able to
be in his chair. It
was while he was in
this condition that an at-
tair took place which was
thought bv his friends to
have greatly impaired his
health. A person named
Hagerman, holding a public office, had been guilty ot some
improper condvict at one or two hotels in the interior ot
the State. The story was a nauseous one, but Mr. Coleman,
thinking that such behavior deserved public exposure, gaxe
It with all its particulars in his sheet. Hagerman was furi-
ously enraged, and having no other answer to make, watched
his opportunity, while Mr. Coleman was driving to his office
in a little wagon, fell upon him with a cane, and beat him

BRYANT AT THE AGE OF FORTY

(From Ionian's P.iinting)

HUNDREDTH A N K I \' E R S A R \' 19

SO severely that he was obliged to keep his room for a con-
siderable time.

This period ot the existence ot the t.vening Post was
illuminated bv the appearance ot the poems ot Halleck antl
Drake in its columns, under the signatures of Croaker and
Croaker & Co., in which the fashions and tollies, and some-
times the politicians ot the dav, were made the subjects of a
gracetul and good-natured ridicule. The numbers containing
these poems were eagerly sought tor ; the town laughed, the
subjects ot the satire laughed in chorus, and all thought them
the best things ot the kind that were ever written; nor were
they tar wrong. At a subsequent period, within the last
twenty-five years, another poem, which, though under a dif-
ferent signature, might be called the epilogue to the Croakers,
was contributed by Mr. Halleck to the paper. ] t was ad-
dressed to the Hon. Richard Riker, Recorder, better known
as Dick Riker.

It was in the year 1826, a quarter ot a centurx- from the
first issue ot the Evening Post, that William C. Brx'ant, now
one ot its conductors, began to write for its columns. At
that time the population ot New ^'ork had grown from
60,000, its numeration in 1801, to 180,000. The space
covered with houses had extended a little beyond Canal
Street, and on each side of Broadway a line ot dwellings, with
occasional vacant spaces, had crept up as tar as Fourth Street.
Preparations were making to take up the monuments in the
Potter's Field, now the site ot Washington Square, and till it
up to the level of Fourth Street. Workmen w'ere employed
in opening the street now called St. Mark's Place, and a dusty
avenue had just been made through the beautiful farm ot the
old Governor Stuyvesant, then possessed by his descendants.
'J"he sheet of the Kvening Post had been somewhat enlarged,
the number of its advertisements had been doubled since its
first appearance, they were more densely printed, and two
columns of them were steamboat advertisements. But the

HUNDREDTH ANNn'ERSARY

eye, in running over a sheet of the Evening Post printed at
that time, misses the throng of announcements of public
amusements, lectures, concerts, and galleries ot pictures that
now solicit the reader's attention; the elaborately displayed
advertisements of the rival booksellers, of whom there are
now several houses, an\' one of which publishes yearly a
greater number of works than all the booksellers of New
York then did ; the long lists of commercial agencies and ex-
presses, and the perpendicular rows of cuts ot ships, steam-
boats, and railway engines which now darken the pages of
our daily sheet.

The Evening Post at that time was much occupied with
matters of local interest, the sanitary condition ot the cit\ ,
the state of its streets, its police, its regulations ot various
kinds, in all ot which its conductors took great interest.
There was little ot personal controversy at that time m its
columns.

The personal appearance ot Mr. Coleman at that period
ot his lite was remarkable. He was ot a full make, with a
broad chest, muscular arms, which he wielded lightly and
easily, and a deep-toned voice; but his legs dangled like
strings. He expressed himselt in conversation with fluency,
energy, and decision, particularly when an\' subject was started
in which he had taken an interest in tormer years. When,
however, he came at that period of his life to write for the
press, he had the habit ot altering his first draught in a
manner to diminish its torce, by expletives and c]ualitving
expressions. He never altered to condense and strengthen,
but almost always to dilute and weaken.

Immediately after Mr. Bryant became connected with the
F^vening Post, it began to agitate the question ot tree trade.
The next year he became one of the proprietors ot the paper.
Mr. Coleman and Mr. Burnham, who desired to avail them-
selves ot the activity and energy of \ounger minds, offered at
the same time a share in the paper to Robert C. Sands, a

PARki; GODWIN, MAN A(;iX(; i;i)IT()R 1S3I.-1S65, KDITOR 1S-S-81

HUNDREDTH ANNIX'ERSARY 23

man ot wit and learning, whose memory is still tenderly
cherished by numbers who had the good fortune to know him
personally. He entertained it favorably at first, but finally
declined it. A majority ot both houses of Congress were in
tavor ot protective duties, and the Kvening Post, at that
time, was the only journal north ot the Potomac which
attempted to controvert them. In the northern part of the
Union it was onl\' in certain towns on the seacoast that a few
triends ot a treer commercial sxstem were found ; the people
of the interior ot the Atlantic States and the entire population
of the West seemed to acquiesce, without a scruple, in the
policy ot high duties. The question ot moditving the tariif"
so as to make it more highly protective was brought up
betore Congress in the winter ot 1828, and on the 19th of
Mav tollowing a bill prepared tor that purpose became a law.
It was warmh' opposed in the Kvening Post, and the course
of Mr. Webster, who had tormerK' spoken with great abilitx'
against protection, but who had now taken his place among
its supporters, was animaih'erted upon with some severity.
That gentleman, in a letter to Mr. Coleman, justified his
conduct b\' saving that the protectu'e system was now the
established polic\' ot the C(juntr\', and that, taking things as
thev were, he had only endeavored to make this s\'stem as
perfect and as equalK' beneficial to e\'er\' quarter ot the Union
as was possible.

In contending against the doctrine ot protection, the
P'.vening Post gradually tell into a position ot hostility to the
Administration ot Mr. Adams, bv which that doctrine was
zeaiouslv maintained. In the election ot 1828, it took the
field in tavor ot the nomination of General Jackson, who had
declared himself in favor of a " judicious tariff," by which his
friends understood a mitigation ot the existing duties. Mr.
Coleman lived to see the triumph ot his party, and to hear
the cheers of the exulting multitude at his door. In the
summer following, the summer ot 1829, he was cut oft hv an

*>^:/

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 25

apopletic stroke. William Leggett, who had earned a repu-
tation tor talent and industry by his conduct of the Critic, a
weekly journal, several ot the last numbers of which were
written entirely by himself, put in type with his own hand,
and delivered by hmiself to the subscribers, was immediately
employed as an assistant editor. He only stipulated that he
should not be asked to write articles on political subjects, on
which he had no settled opinions, and for which he had no
taste — a dispensation which was readily granted. Before
this year was out, however, he found himself a zealous Demo-
crat, and an ardent friend of free trade, and in the year i 830
became one ot the proprietors ot the paper.

Mr. Leggett was a man ot middle stature, but compact
frame, great power of endurance, and a constitution naturally
strong, though somewhat impaired b\' an attack of the yellow
tever while on board the United States squadron in the West
Indies. He was tond ot study and delighted to trace prin-
ciples to their remotest consequences, whither he was always
willing to follow them. The quality of courage existed m
hiin almost to excess, and he took a sort of pleasure in beard-
ing public opinion. He wrote with surprising fluency, and
often with eloquence, took broad views ot the questions that
came before him, and possessed the faculty of rapidly arrang-
ing the arguments which occurred to him in clear order, and
stating them persuasively.

The acts of General Jackson's Administration brought up
the questi(jn of the power ot the Federal Government to
make public roads within the limits ot the difterent States,
and the question of renewing the charter of the United States
Bank. With what zeal he was supported by the livening
Post, in his disapproval of the works ot "internal impro\'e-
ment," as they were called, sanctioned by Congress, and m
his steady refusal to sign the hills presented to him tor con-
tinuing the United States Bank in existence, many ot our
readers doubtless remember. The question ot national roads.

SI 'tt3^r'iS^\ -||, fe«ffiis^r?si t

o I

< c

HUNDREDTH A N N I V E R S A R \' 27

after some sham controversy, was disposed of finally, perhaps,
and for ever; the contest for the existence of the iNational
Bank was longer and more stubborn, but the popular voice
decided it, at last, in tavor of the President.

Those who recollect what occurred when General Jackson
withdrew the funds of the Government from the Bank of the
United States, a measure known by the name of the removal
of the deposits, cannot have forgotten to what a pitch party
hatred was then carried. It was a sort of fury ; nothing like
it had been known m this community tor twentv years, and
there has been nothing like it since. Men of different parties
could hardly look at each other without gnashing their teeth ;
deputations were sent to Congress to remonstrate with Gen-
eral Jackson, and some even talked — of course it was mere
talk, but it showed the height of passion to which men were
transported — of marching in arms to the seat of government
and putting down the Administration. A brief panic took
possession of the monev market; many worthy men really
believed that the business and trade of the country were in
danger of coming to an end, and looked to a universal ruin.
In this tempest the Evening Post stood its ground, vindicated
the Administration in its change of agents, on the ground
that the United States Bank was unsafe and unworthy, and
derided both the threats and the tears ot the Whigs.

In June, 1834, Mr. Bryant sailed for Europe, leaving
Mr. Leggett sole conductor ot the Evenmg Post. Mr.
Burnham had previously withdrawn as a proprietor, substi-
tuting his son in his place. The battle between the triends
and enemies of the bank proceeded with little diminution ot
virulence, but the panic had passed away. The Evening Post
was led by the discussion of the bank question to inquire into
the propriety of allowing the State banks to exist as monopo-
lies, with peculiar powers and prerogatives not enjoyed by
individuals. It demanded a general banking law, which
should place on an equal footing every person desirous of

28 THE EVENING POST

engaging in the business ot banking. It attacked the patron-
age ot the Federal Kxecutive, and insisted that the post-
masters should be chosen by the people in the neighborhoods
in which thev ministered. A system of oppressive inspection
laws had gradually grown up in the State — tobacco was in-
spected, llour was inspected, beef and pork were in-
spected, and a swarm ot creatures ot the State Government
was called into being, who subsisted by tees exacted from
those who bought and sold. Nobody was allowed to pur-
chase an uninspected or untaxed barrel of flour, or an unin-
spected and untaxed plug of tobacco. The Evening Post
renewed its attacks on the abuse, which had previously been
denounced in its columns, and called for the entire abroga-
tion of the whole code ot inspection laws. The call was
answered some years afterwards, when the subject was taken
up in earnest by the Legislature, and the system broken up.

Meantime, another question had arisen. The Washing-
ton Telegraph had procured printed reports of the Abolition
Society in New York, then a small body, and little known to
the public, and extracting the most oflensive passages, held
them up to the people of the South as proofs of a deliberate
design on the part ot the North to deprive the planters ot
their slaves, without their consent and without remuneration.
Other extracts followed from day to day, with similar inflam-
matory comments, till at length the Southern blood took tire,
and the Southern merchants began to talk of ceasing to trade
with New York. The New York commercial community
disclaimed all sympathy with the abolitionists, and to prove
its sincerity began to disturb their meetings. From slight
disturbances the transition was easy to frightful riots, and
several of these, in which the genteel mob figured conspic-
uously, occurred in the year 1835, at difterent places within
the State. The meetings of the abolitionists were broken up,
their houses were mobbed, and Arthur Tappan was obliged,
for a while, to leave the city, where his person was not safe.

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY

29

The Evening Post at first condemned the riots, and vindicated
the right of as.sembHng and the right of speech. As the mob
grew more lawless, it took bolder ground, and insisted that
the evil and the wrong of slavery were so great that the

WALL STREET, CORNER OF WILLIAM, iSoi
(From 'The New Metropolis.' Copyright by I). Appleton & Co.)

abolitionists were worthy of praise and sympathy in striving
for its extinction. It rang this doctrine from day to day in
the ears ot the rioters and their abettors, and confronted and
defied their utmost malice. No offer was made, in the midst
of all this excitement, to mob the office of this paper.

30 THEEVENINGPOST

During Mr. Bryant's absence in Europe, the interest of
the younger Burnham was purchased for his two associates,
who thus became the sole proprietors.

In October, 1835, '^'"- ^eggett became seriously ill; he
returned to his labors after a short interval ; but a relapse
came on, and confined him to a sick-room for months. Mr.
Bryant returned in the spring of 1836 from Europe, and
found him still an invalid, the editorial chair being ably filled,
tor the time, by Charles Mason, since distinguished as a
lawyer in Iowa. He resumed his labors, and engaged in a
controversy respecting the State banks, which was then at its
height, and which continued to agitate the community till the
adoption of a general banking law by the State, and of the
independent treasury scheme bv the Federal Government.

In the month ot June, 1836, attempts were made in dif-
ferent parts of the State to compel journeymen to refrain from
entering into any understanding with each other in regard to
the wages they would demand of their emplovers. Twelve
journeymen tailors were indicted in this city for the crime of
refusing to work, except for a certain compensation, and a
knot of journeymen shoemakers at Hudson. In this citv.
Judge Edwards — Ogden Edwards — and at Hudson, Judge
Savage, laid dow-n the law against the accused, pronouncing
their conduct a criminal conspiracy, worthy of condign pun-
ishment. The Evening Post took up the charge of Judge
Edwards almost as soon as it fell from his lips and showed its
inconsistency with the plainest principles of personal freedom,
with the spirit of all our institutions and laws, and with the
rule by which we allow all employers and purchasers to regu-
late their transactions. The other journals of the city took a
different view of the question, but the doctrine maintained bv
the Evening Post commended itself to the public mind, and
is now the prevailing and universal one.

In October of the same year, Mr. Leggett, after a sojourn
of some months in the country, returned to his office with his

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY

31

health in part restored. His return led to an examination
of the finances of the Evening Post, which had suffered very
much during his illness. Its circulation, though lessened,
was still respectable, but its advertising list was greatly
diminished, and its income was not more than a quarter of
what it had been. Some ot its friends had been alienated by
the vehemence with which the journal had attacked slavery
and its defenders. The proprietors of steamboats and ships,
and those who had houses to let, had withdrawn their adver-
tisements, because no cuts designed to attract the attention
of the reader, were allowed a place in its columns. Mr.
Leggett, with an idea ot improving the appearance of his
daily sheet, had rigidly excluded them.

This examination led to the retirement of Mr. Leggett
from the paper. He established a weekly sheet, the Plain-
dealer, which he conducted tor about a year with great ability,
and which, hut tor the tailure of his publisher, would have
been highly successful, as was evident from the rapid increase
of its circulation so long as it was published.

We have mentioned the short panic of 1834. It was
followed by a season ot extravagant confidence, and ot de-
lirious speculation, encouraged by all the banks — that ot Mr.
Biddle and the deposit banks co-operating in a mad rivalry —
a season such as the country had never seen betore. It
might sound like a vain boast of superior discernment to say
that the Evening Post insisted, all along, that the apparent
prosperity of the country was but temporary, that its end
was close at hand, and that it would be followed by a general
collapse and by universal distress — but it is, nevertheless,
true, and as we are writing the history of our journal, it must
be said. The crash came quite as soon as the most far-sighted
had anticipated, and thousands were ruined ; the banks stopped
payment, and the Legislature of New York, in a fright, passed
a sort of stop law in their favor, absolving them from the
engagement to pay their notes in specie.

32 THE EVENING POST

Meantime, no means were left untried to bring back the
paper to its former prosperous condition. William G. Boggs,
a practical printer, and a man of much activity, was taken
into the concern, first with a contingent interest, and in 1837
as a proprietor. The figures of steamboats, ships, and houses
were restored to its columns, and nothing omitted which it
was thought would attract advertisers. They came with some
shyness at first, but at last readily and in great numbers. It
required some time to arrest the decline of the paper, and
still more to make it luove in the desired direction, but when
once it felt the impulse it advanced rapidly to its former
prosperity.

The book press of the country about this time had begun
to pour forth cheap reprints of European publications with
astonishing tertilit\'. Few works but those of English
authors were read, inasmuch as the publisher, having nothing
to pay for copyright to the foreign author, could afford to sell
an English work far cheaper than an American one written
with the same degree of talent and attractiveness. The
Evening Post was earlv on the side ot those who demanded
that some remedy should he applied to this unequal operation
of our copyright laws, which had the effect of expelling the
American author from the book market. It placed no stress,
however, on the scheme of an international copyright law, as it
has been called, but consistently with its course on all commer-
cial questions, insisted that if literary propert^' is to be recog-
nized by our laws, it ought to be recognized in all cities alike,
without regard to the legislation ot other countries ; that the
author who is not naturalized deserves to be protected in its
enjoyment equally with the citizen ot our republic, and that
to possess ourselves of his books simply because he is a
stranger is as gross an inhospitality as it we denied his right
to his baggage, or the wares which he might bring from abroad
to dispose ot in our market.

The dispute between the friends ot the credit s^•stem, as

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 33

they called themselves, and their adversaries continued till the
scheme of making the Government the keeper of its own
funds, instead of placing them in the banks, to be made the
basis ot discounts, was adopted by Congress. For this
measure, which is now very generally acknowledged by men
of all parties to have been one of the wisest ever taken by the
Federal Government, and perhaps more wholesome in its
effect on the money market than any other adopted before
or since, the country is indebted to Mr. Van Buren's Admin-
istration, and to those who sustained it against the credit party.
The Evening Post was one of the very earliest in the field
among the champions of that scheme, and lent such aid as it
was able in the controversy.

In 1840 it was engaged in the unsuccessful attempt to re-
elect Mr. Van Buren. In the four years ot that gentleman's
Administration nearly all the disastrous consequences of the
reaction from the speculations ot the four previous years were
concentrated. He and his friends applied what is now ac-
knowledged to be the wisest remedy, the independent treasury
scheme; but a sufficient time had not elapsed to experience
its effects, and the friends of the credit system everywhere
treated it as the most pernicious quackery. The Administra-
tion of Mr. Van Buren was made responsible tor conse-
quences which it had no agency in producing, and Gen.
Harrison was elected to the Presidency.

We have now arrived at a period the history ot which,
we may presume, is so fresh in the memory of our readers
that we need give no very circumstantial narrative of the part
borne in the controversies of the time by the Evening Post.
In this year, Parke Godwin, who for some time had been
employed as an assistant on the paper, became one of its
proprietors, and continued so until the year 1844, when the
interest he held was transferred to Timothy A. Howe, a
practical printer, who has ever since been one of the owners
of the concern.

34 THE EVENING POST

During the time that the Executive chair was filled by
Mr. Tyler — for General Harrison passed so soon from his
inauguration to his grave that his name will scarcely be
noticed In history— several of the questions which formerly
divided parties were revived. The question ot the inde-
pendent treasury had to be debated over again ; the measure
was repealed. The question of a national bank came up
again in Congress, and we had to fight the battle a second
time ; the bill for creating an institution of this kind pre-
sented to Mr. Tyler was refused his signature and defeated.
Mr. Tyler, however, had a dream of a peculiar national bank
ot his own ; this also was to be combated. The compromise
of 1832 in regard to duties on imported goods was set aside
by Congress, without ceremony, and a scheme ot high duties
was proposed which resulted in the tariff of 1842. Here,
also, was matter for controversy. The question of admitting
Texas into the Union, which had several times before been
discussed in the Evening Post, was brought before Congress.
It was warmly opposed in this journal, which contended that
if Texas was to be admitted at all, a negotiation should first
be opened with Mexico. This was not done, hut the result
has shown that such a course would have been far the wisest.
The eager haste to snatch Texas into the Union brought
with it the war with Mexico, the shedding of much blood,
large conquests, California, and those dreadful quarrels about
slavery and its extension which have shaken the Union.

In 1848 Mr. Boggs parted with his interest in the Even-
ing Post to John Bigelow; and William J. Tenney, who had
been tor some time past the able and useful assistant of Mr.
Bryant, withdrew. The controversies which have since
arisen are yet the controversies of the day ; they still occupy
all minds, and there is no occasion to speak of their nature
nor of the part we have taken in them.

We have now brought our narrative down to the present
moment. It does not become us to close without some

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 35

expression of the kindly feeling we entertain towards those
subscribers — for there are still a few of them — who read the
Evening Post in i8ot, and who yet read it, nor to those —
and there are many such — in whose families it is looked upon
as a sort of heirloom and who have received a partiality for it
as an inheritance from their parents. When these examples
occur to our minds, we are consoled for the occasional dis-
pleasure and estrangement of those we had deemed our
friends ; and we think of our journal as of something solid,
permanent, enduring.

This impression is strengthened when we reflect that in
the mechanical department ot the paper are men who came to
it in their childhood, before any of the present proprietors of
the paper had set foot within the office, and are employed
here still.

An experience of a quarter of a century in the conduct
of a newspaper should suffice to give one a pretty complete
idea of the efl"ect of journalism upon the character. It is a
vocation which gives an insight into men's motives, and
reveals by what influences masses of men are moved, but it
shows the dark rather than the bright side of human nature,
and one who is not disposed to make due allowances for the
peculiar circumstances in which he is placed is apt to be led
by it into the mistake that the large majority of mankind are
knaves. Jt brings one perpetually in sight, at least, of men
of various classes, who make public zeal a cover for private
interest, and desire to avail themselves ot the influence ot the
press for the prosecution ot their own selfish projects. It
fills the mind with a variety of knowledge relating to the
events of the day, but that knowledge is apt to be superficial,
since the necessity ot attending to many subjects prevents the
journalist from thoroughly investigating any. In this way it
begets desultory habits of thought, disposing the mind to be
satisfied with mere glances at difficult questions, and to dwell
only upon plausible commonplaces.

Reminiscences of

Parke Godwin

Managing Editor l8j6-l86^. Editor iSjS-Sl

IN talking over old days upon the Evening Post, Mr.
Godwin remarked that very few persons would remem-
ber how distinguished a lot ot men used to write for
that newspaper half a century ago.

" I can remember," said he, " a score of men whose work
gave great pleasure to our readers in those da\'s, but, of
course, most of them are now wholly forgotten bv the public,
and you would hardly find even their names in any list ot
American writers. Among the men whose names, however,
are known to every one, I might mention among the early
correspondents of the Kvening Post, the distinguished French
critic Sainte-Beuve, who wrote a good deal ot correspondence
for us at a time before the Atlantic cable had made European
letters ot less importance. Upon our regular local staff we
had at one time or another Walt Whitman, who did report-
ing tor us, and, if I remember rightly, wrote a number ot
letters trom Washington at the beginning of the war. Arte-
mus Ward also did some reporting tor us, but 1 cannot
remember its exact nature : it was, of course, betore he
attained fame as an American humorist. Bret Harte
was on our staff for quite a while, and perhaps, as it is so
very long ago, he will not object to mv saying that I remem-
ber him chiefiy for the difficulty with which I could get
anything in the wav of' copv ' out of him. He was remark-

HUNDREDTH A N N J \' E R S A R Y 37

ably regular at the office upon pay-days, but something too
much of a Bohemian in other respects to fit in with our staid
ways and manners. Mr. Harte ought to forgive me for
saying this, especially as it was I who brought him to New
York.

" Before the war the Evening Post was poorer than we
allowed any one to believe, so poor that it often fell to mv
lot to go at the end ot the week to some of our moneyed
friends and raise the funds to pay off the staff and the com-
posing-room on Saturday. Well, I had noticed in the San
Francisco papers some sketches by Harte that took my fancy,
and I proposed to bring him on to New York for Putnam's
Magazine, of which I was then one of the editors. But the
magazine was not able to afford the salary that Bret Harte
asked, and so work was found for him upon the Evening
Post, where he wrote sketches and did some editorial writing,
besides his work upon the magazine. James K. Paulding,
Sidney Gay, Charles A. Briggs, Charles Nordhoff, Charlton
T. Lewis, are among the other writers whose names occur to
me. There was also, as literary critic upon the Evening Post
for a number of years, John R. Thompson, a most delightful
talker and writer, and an intimate friend of Poe's. It was
customary in those days, also, for a newspaper like the
Evening Post to depend somewhat upon the occasional con-
tributions of friends, politicians, lawyers, and business men,
and in this way Mr. Bryant, who was not a pohtician or an
editor by nature, but a scholar and a poet, received much
valuable assistance and advice. Martin Van Buren, Silas
Wright, Azariah Flagg, Michael Hoffman, Samuel J. Tilden,
and John Randolph were all occasional contributors and con-
stant visitors. Van Buren very seldom came to New York
without dropping into the office and talking over national
affairs. Among our local authorities was W. G. Blunt,
whose pet interest was the harbor of New York and the city's
shipping. In the same field I might also mention Capt. John

38 THE EVENING POST

Codman, who died a year or two ago, and whose many ad-
mirable letters will be remembered with pleasure bv all the
old readers of the PLvening Post. Blunt was a man whose
character rather fitted his name. I remember that one day
he greeted in his blutt and hearty way William L. Marcy,
who was the reverse in manner, and who drew himself up
with the remark that Blunt had the advantage of him. ' Don't
you know me ? ' exclamied our old friend ; ' m\' name is
Blunt.' 'And so is your manner,' remarked Marcy as he
walked away.

" I have mentioned that the Evening Post was a very small
affair, so tar as money went, in the days before the war. Our
position upon the anti-slavery question was by no means a
popular one with the merchants upon whom the New York
papers depended largely tor their support. Most of our
importers were closely connected with the South, and, of
course, our position brought us into disfavor with all their
Southern customers. It was only when the tide turned that
we rose, almost at a bound, into financial tavor. After the
first year of the war, all the bankers and speculators who had
bonds to sell took our columns at any price we chose to ask.
Our circulation was not large as compared with modern times,
but toward the close of the war it was often limited only bv
the possibility ot printing newspapers upon the rudimentary
presses of those days. It was not, however, circulation that
paid us, but the immense advertising patronage at high prices.
The Evening Post became what it has since remained, the
organ for the most exclusive and expensive advertising, that
which appeals chiefly to well-to-do people and investors.

"The Government and its agents naturally thought well
of the paper and made liberal use ot it. Seward was one of
our good friends. Talking of Seward reminds me of a little
incident that cast a peculiar light upon how history is some-
times made. At one of the critical moments of the war,
when McClellan, after losing a terrible number of men by

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 39

death and sickness in the Peninsula, was finally forced to
retreat, the anti-Administration papers seized upon it as a
text tor criticising the Government and predicting final dis-
aster. Seward happened to come at that time to the Astor
House, and we went over to confer with him. 1 had private
cipher letters from the front, describing the situation as des-
perate, and trankly told the Secretary what they contained.
Upon the strength of those letters, we believe, and I still
believe, that McClellan was forced back, and there was danger
ot a serious collapse. Seward insisted that the best possible
face should be put upon the matter, and that McClellan's
retreat should be termed a strategic movement ot great bril-
liancy. It was finally decided, after a long conference, that
so it should be called, and so it has gone down, more or less,
into history.

" Chiet among the good deeds to the credit of the old Even-
ing Post, I ought to mention Mr. Bryant's suggestion of the
creation ot Central Park. As every one knows, Bryant was
not only a lover of Nature and inordinately fond of trees and
flowers, but a great walker. He delighted in roaming about the
upper part of the city, which, of course, was then all country
above Forty-second Street, or even Twenty-third Street. He
knew intimately the part of the island where the park now is,
and advocated over and over again the organization of a
committee to lay out a great park before the land should become
too valuable. His original scheme was to make the park
include a strip from river to river, but this he afterwards
modified, and contented himself with what was known as the
Goose Pasture, some of the tract now occupied by the Cen-
tral Park. It seems astonishing at this day that such a
proposition met not only with criticism, but with the bitter
opposition of people who considered a park such as Mr.
Bryant proposed a reckless and wicked waste of public money.
Another proposition first made by the livening Post, which
was not only criticised but mercilessly ridiculed, was to put

40 THE EVENING POST

the city constables, the forerunners of our present poHcemen,
into uniform. This had been done by Sir Robert Peel in
London, and had been a success. When the Evening Post
proposed it here, some ot our critics said that we were follow-
ing the Chinese custom ot hunting criminals with a brass
band. I believe that in China the watchman carries a big
rattle, heard a long way off", so that the evildoer has plenty
of time to get out of the way. Our New York critics
thought that to put a policeman into uniform was to make
him helpless, inasmuch as the malefactors could see him
coming and make oft. Nevertheless, the proposal was finally
adopted when the old constabulary under Jacob Hayes gave
way before the present system.

" The editorial force of the Evening Post in the days
before the war was, of course, very small, for the amount of
editorial writing and of news matter in comparison to the
advertising columns would be to-day considered insignificant.
One long editorial article a day was deemed sufficient, and
when no such article happened to be on hand, perhaps a letter
from some esteemed contributor would do. Until the war
brought the telegraph into common use, we used it sparingly,
as the expense was enormous. It was my good fortune to
follow the history of the telegraph as a newspaper necessity
from the very beginning. When I was graduated from
Princeton in 1834, I had already some knowledge of the
coming wonder, for I distinctly remember that among the
experiments made by our professor of physics, the famous
Henry, afterwards of the Smithsonian, was one m which
signals were sent by electricity, or magnetism, as it was called
in those days, from one end of a wn^e to the other. The
wire was coiled around and around the laboratory and we
listened to the clicks with interest. Professor Henry re-
marked at the time that there was in that experiment the
germ of an apparatus for sending messages from town to
town, and perhaps even from country to country. This was

HUNDREDTH ANNI\'ERSARY 41

several \'ears before Morse brought out his telegraph. When
I became a regular working editor, and began to use tele-
graphic dispatches in the Evening Post, they were luxuries
rather than necessities, until the war changed all that. Speak-
ing ot earlv inventions, it was also mv good fortune to travel
once in a steamboat built bv Robert Fulton, and when I went
to Princeton by way of Perth Amboy, I travelled upon the
second railroad line built in the United States. Those \\ere
the days when New York practically ended at Canal Street.
I remember that as a boy we youngsters believed that Indians
roamed unmolested above the Canal Street bridge. It is not
surprising that when Mr. Bryant proposed, a tew ^ears later,
that the city should buy some hundreds of acres where Cen-
tral Park now stands, the notion should have been deemed a
wild one. Five miles in those days, with the antiquated
stages then in use, was as much ot a journe\ as twenty-tive
miles would be to-day."

Mr. Godwin said that the way in which he came to enter
the service of the F',vening Post, in iSj6, was a curious illus-
tration of how slight an accident may sometimes turn the
whole course ot a man's life. He was, at that time, a young
lawyer, had been admitted to the bar, and was waiting tor
clients. He was so poor, however, that he could not aflord
the boarding-house in which he was living at that time, and,
going to a cousin of his, he inquired casually whether she
could inform him of a cheaper boarding-house. She said
yes. There had been a school directly across the way from
her, which had just been vacated, and which was now to be
opened as a boarding-house; and that, as the\ were making
a new start, the owners would unquestionably make a very
cheap arrangement for him. He went over and found this
to be the case, and moved in ; and he and another gentleman
were for a time the only boarders. One day, when he came
into the parlor, he found this other occupant ot the boarding-
house talking to a gentleman to whom he was introduced.

42 THE EVENING POST

He failed to catch the name, but was struck bv the beauty of
the visitor's EngHsh and his evident refinement and culture.
When he left, Godwin asked his fellow-boarder what the
name of the man was. His friend said: "It is William
CuUen Bryant, the poet, and he is coming here to live, his
family having gone abroad." After that, Mr. Godwin had
many opportunities to meet Mr. Bryant, and they finally
became very mtimate friends, taking long walks together, in
the direction of what is now Centra! Park, and which was
then open pasture land. Mr. Bryant came to him one day
and told him that his assistant had incipient consumption,
and was forced to go to Cuba for his health, and that he had
considerable difficulty in finding a substitute to take the sick
man's place. Finally, he asked Godwin whether he could
not take it. The latter said no, as he was trained tor the law,
and he did not see how he was fitted tor newspaper work.
But finally Mr. Bryant prevailed upon him to accept the
position temporarily. After he had been there two months,
news came from Cuba that the assistant had died. 1 he
result was that Bryant again came to Godwin and asked him
to stay permanently. Godwin said no again, that it was im-
possible; that he felt he owed it to his father to go on with
his career. " But," said Mr. Godwin, " I promised that I
would stay a few weeks longer, and I stayed forty-six vears."
Mr. Godwin became a stockholder in the paper in i860.
When Lincoln made his first visit to New York after his
inauguration, Godwin called upon him at his hotel, and
Lincoln said to him that he had received a great many re-
quests from prominent New Yorkers to make him (Godwin)
Consul-General at Paris, and that he was very glad to do this,
and would do it the first thing when he got back to Wash-
ington. Godwin was very much gratified at this, and said
that he would accept. Going back to the Evening Post
office, he met Mr. Bryant and told him at once of the ap-
pointment. Mr. Bryant was very much annoyed, and said

HUNDREDTH A N N I \' E R S A R ^' 43

that that would never do, and that he must not go. Godwin
replied that he had never received more than $50 a week
smce he had been on the paper, and he could see no
prospects tor him there, and that he was anxious to go
abroad. Just then John Bigelow, Mr. Bryant's partner,
came in, and Bryant stated the case to him. The latter re-
plied that he thought he saw a way out of the difficulty, and
told Godwin that he (Bigelow) was very anxious to go abroad,
and that, if President Lincoln would change the appointment
from Godwin to Bigelow, the latter would sell his one-third
interest in the Evening Post to Godwin tor the sum ot
$iio,oco. Godwin replied that he had no money, and that
he could, therefore, not purchase it. Bryant said that he and
Henderson would raise it tor him, and thus the matter was
arranged. Bigelow went as Consul-General to Paris, after-
wards becoming Minister, and Godwin remained on the
Evening Post as one-third owner.

The year atter he purchased his one-third interest, the
three owners, Ciodwin, Henderson, and Br\ant, divided
$210,000. He himselt originated the real-estate advertise-
ments in the P',vening Post, as he went to Ludlow & Pme,
then the leading men in the real-estate business, and induced
them to let him print their advertisements tree in the Even-
ing Post for the period of a year. After this they were very
glad to pay for their advertisements, and all the small real-
estate men felt bound to appear where these great leaders did.
Mr. Godwin said that during the old days ot auctioneering,
the Evening Post also had the best part of that advertising.

John Bigelow's

Reminiscences

Associate Editor iS^g-lS6l

MR. BIGELOW, who during his eleven \ears' connec-
tion with the Kvening Post was one of Brxant's
warmest friends as well as his business and editorial
associate, still speaks with aftection ot his newspaper davs.

" I was connected with the Evening Post," said Mr.
Bigelow, " troni 1849 until the tall ot 1861. During that
period the newspaper was largely occupied with efforts to
resist the extension ot slavery into the tree Territories. This
contest, which came to a crisis in i 848, resulted in the disrup-
tion of the Democratic and Whig parties and the nomination
of Van Buren and /\dams tor the Presidency, in opposition
to the candidates ot the regular Democratic and Whig parties.
Although I was m those davs a lawyer b\' profession, I wrote
occasionally tor the press, chiefly upon professional matters.
In 1849 Mr. Tilden asked me it I would like to go into the
Kvening Post, saying that Mr. Bryant needed assistance;
that I might be useful there; and he thought an arrangement
could be made to pay me a pretty good salary it 1 would
accept it. I said to Mr. Tilden, journalism had its attractions
for me, but that I had already learned one profession, had a
good practice for a young man, and did not propose to leave
a field where I was my own master to accept a subordinate
position elsewhere. Phe onl\' condition under which I would
entertain a proposition to go into the P.vening Post would be

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 45

as a partner; as a salaried man I was sure I would do neither
myself nor my partners justice. Not to go into details, the
result was that Mr. William G. Boggs, the business manager,
retired from the firm and sold out to me in the autumn of
1849. 1 recall with pride the fact that Charles O'Conor,
who was then already nearing the headship of his profession
in the United States, and upon whom I had no claims, except
such as are established bv mutual respect, lent me the monev
which I required to consummate the purchase.

" At that time the Evening Post was far from prosperous.
We were three partners. The income from the paper the
first year after 1 entered the firm was between ^9,000 and
|io,ooo. The circulation was small, from 1,500 to 2,000.
Its course in resisting the extension of slavery into the free
l^erntories had affected our advertising; seriously. Southern
business men resented anything with an abolition tinge, and
most of our advertisers looked to the South for business. It
was enough tor a Northern merchant to report in the South
that a rival firm advertised in the Evening Post to close
accounts between such firm and any of its Southern customers,
to whose notice the tact was pretty sure to be brought.
Some of the oldest and best friends ot the Evening Post gave
this as their excuse tor withdrawing their advertisements. In
that way our advertising columns suffered severely tor two or
three years. It was a tardy satisfaction afterwards to learn
that prettv much all who saved their customers at the South
in this way had reason to regret it. The debts to the North-
ern merchants repudiated bv the South a tew years later were
moderately estimated at not less than S 10,000,000.

" Of course our staff at that time was small. It con-
sisted of Mr. Bryant and ot Mr. Tenney, whose chiet busi-
ness it was to read exchanges. We shared with the Com-
mercial Advertiser the expense ot a marine reporter. We
had no city editor and but one city reporter. Ttiat was about
the condition of all the newspapers published in New York

1«HN BI(;EL()\V, associate editor 1S49-1861

HUNDREDTH ANNI\'ERSARY 47

at the time. I don't think that the Commercial Advertiser,
our only evening competitor, had any larger force. The
Courier and Inquirer, then the leading morning paper, had a
marine reporter and a special boat, with which it used to get
its European news from incoming ships. That was quite a
novelty, and seemed a bold thing to do. It is difficult now
to realize the change wrought in newspaper work in New
York during the fifty-odd years which have elapsed since
then. Every day the Herald gives more space to sporting
news of various kinds than was given then in six months by
any New York daily. Nothing in the way of games or sports
was ever reported in the press at the time I entered the
Evening Post, except perhaps horse-races in the spring and
autumn. Ot college games no note was taken ; in fact, there
were none noticeable either in quality or quantity.

" When I entered the firm we had a job-printing office,
poorly and feebly managed. It I remember rightly, the net
income of the last year had been only about $750, or some-
thing like that. Shortly before I left the bar, the courts had
adopted a rule that cases coming to them on appeal should he
printed. I was on pretty good terms with the bar and the
judges. I gave both notice that it their cases were sent to
us they would be printed in proper shape, which was more
than the average printer at that day knew how to do, as it
was a new kind of printing. Yerv soon business began to
come in. We got a new foreman, who was directed never to
decline a job because he could not execute it in time, e\'en
if he had to get all the printers m to\\ n to aid him. We
soon had all the lawyers' printing, or pretty much all ot it,
and naturally it brought a great deal of other business. Atter
the first year, and I think down to the time I lett, there was
no year that we did not net between 5 10,000 and Si 2,000
out of our job-printing, while neither Mr. Bryant nor myself
ever spent altogether what would amount to three days' time
in a year on the work of that department. It went by itselt.

48 T H R E V K N J N (i P O S T

" I had not been long in the firm when it became neces-
sar\- to make another change in the pubHshing department,
and Isaac Henderson was invited to take the place of Mr.
Howe. Mr. Henderson had many excellent business quali-
ties, of which the fiscal department ot the paper soon began to
teel the effects. He continued to be a proprietor of the
paper until it passed into the hands of its present proprietors.

" In looking back to mv work upon the Evening Post, I
have the pleasantest recollections ot Mr. Bryant as a fellow-
laborer. It was a pleasure and a distinction to work with
him ; perfect harmony always prevailed between us. Mr.
Bryant was not a journalist in the modern sense of the word ;
he had, like most editors of the period, but an imperfect ap-
preciation of the financial importance of news for a newspaper.
He had always been a leader-writer. In fact, the superior value
of news to editorial articles or opinions, as a newspaper asset, was
first taught in New York by James Gordon Bennett, the elder,
who made a fortune out of it. The Times followed his ex-
ample with corresponding success. Mr. Bryant and every one
else connected with the Evening Post had alwavs relied chiefly
upon Its editorial page to attract readers. The Evening
Post's influence was always considerable; but news had ne\'er
been m those days its chief or even a conspicuous feature.
The great prosperity of the Evening Post began when the
political tide turned and Southern principles had ceased to be
a wand to conjure with. Before that, people with political
aspirations at Washington, or merchants seeking the Southern
trade, were actually afraid to have the paper seen in their
possession. Earlv in the fifties, however, it began to gain
steadih". Wlien I entered, its income, as I have alreadv said,
was not more than 1 10,000 a year; when I left, it was yield-
ing between $70,000 and S8o,ooo. In the meantime, we
bought a property at the corner of Liberty and Nassau
Streets and fitted it up for ofiices. It turned out to be a
\'ery profitable investment for the newspaper. The business

HUNDREDTH ANNJ\ERSARY 49

office when 1 entered it was on the east side of Nassau Street,
near the corner ot Fine. Aaron Burr's sign as counsellor at
law was on a two-storv brick building iminediatelv opposite.
The Evening Post remained upon the site of what is now the
Bryant building until it moved to its present quarters.

" There was another issue besides slavery in those days,
and that was opposition to the waste of public money. We
endeavored to teach, so far as possible, that the proper busi-
ness and function ot a representative Government allowed of
no interference with private business or propertv. We ques-
tioned, occasionally, the wisdom of Government schools, for
instance, doubting whether the principle which allowed the
Government to teach school did not carrv with it a right to
meddle with everything else. Different views of Democracy
now prevail. Mr. Brvant wrote a great deal on the subject
of free trade. Most ot the other papers ot that day were
either tor protection or without opinions upon the subject.
While we were always nominally Democrats, we were reallv
independent on this as upon other subjects. The Demo-
cratic press generally avoided the question of tree trade as
one upon which the party had not tormallv expressed an
opinion. The South was solid for free trade, while New
England, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio
were all inclining to protection, the New England States more
especially, because their manufacturing industries had received
a verv substantial impulse, and, up to the time when I lett
the bar, were absorbing most ot the capital ot that part of the
country. Most of the great fortunes of New England had
been made through manufactures.

" Mr. Bryant was a man with whom I never disagreed
upon any subject where it was not easy tor one or the other
of us to yield, because he was always, in the highest sense ot
the term, a conscientious man, a man of the highest principles,
and I tried to be.

" One peculiarity of Bryant was that he absolutely refused

50 THE EVENING POST

to do any newspaper work except at the office. I renieniher
that when he wished to prepare an historical review for the
semi-centennial ot the paper in 1 8 1; i , 1 offered to have the
files of the Kvening Post sent down to his house at Roslvn,
so that he could use theni there. He would not have it, and
did it all at his desk. His home work, when he wrote at all
awav trom the office, was either poetry or somethmg relating
to poets. Mr. Br\'ant's office desk was his editorial throne.
It was something ot a curiosity. It was a large desk, always
piled up with rejected manuscripts, letters, books, pamphlets,
documents ot all kinds, with a little place in the center where
he could find room enough in which to write. I should men-
tion here that he always wrote for the t.vening Post on the
backs ot old letters and rejected manuscripts. 1 don't remem-
ber to have ever seen a piece ot his ' cop\' ' on tresh paper, or
to have known ot his ordering any paper tor editorial use.
During his absence once in h.urope I cleared his desk and
thought 1 had greath' improved its appearance and con\-en-
ience. When he returned I explained to him what I had
done, but I saw trom the expression ot his tace that mv
housecleaning had given him anything hut satistaction. He
made no remark, but his silence meant chagrin. He was
tond of things with old associations. He had an old jack-
knife, tor instance, with which he used to cut his quill pen.
No one could induce him to use a new one. He was likewise
attached to an old blue cotton umbrella that he insisted upon
taking with him ever\'where. When he was starting tor
Mexico, his daughter hid it awav, replacing it with a hand-
some new silk umbrella. Betore he got of^- he discovered
the fraud, and insisted upon having the old one restored to
him.

" I have no hesitation m expressing mv con\'iction that
no other man's example ever exerted so great or lasting influ-
ence upon me as Mr. Br\'ant's. I sa\' example, because he
rarelv gave advice. But his example to me proved very

HUNDREDTH ANNIX'ERSARY

infectious. Years after I had retired from the profession,
when puzzled about a question of duty or propriety, i would
instinctively ask mvself, ' How would Brvant act in this
case?' I always and promptly received a satisfactory
answer.

"It is often said that the Evening Post was founded bv
Alexander Hamilton, but this is so only in the same way that
the Sun was founded bv Governor Morgan. I don't know
whether Hamilton put any money into it or not. I don't
think he had any to put in. I suppose it was called ' Ham-
ilton's paper' just as the Hamburger Nachrichten was called
' Bismarck's paper.' It was recognized as his organ and
advocated his principles.

" In those days, all the newspapers of importance were
owned or controlled by their editors, who were usually the
leaders or representatives of the leaders of one or the other of
the great political parties. Coleman, the founder of the Post,
was a Federalist of the Hamiltonian school, and continued to
be the champion of Hamiltonian Federalism until iVIr. Brvant
had become established in the paper.

" Then newspapers were edited and published more for
the influence thev exerted upon public affairs than for the
revenue they yielded the proprietors. Since then, the superior
value of news to political patronage in extending the circula-
tion and influence of a newspaper has entirely changed the
character of the press from a feudal to a pureK- democratic
regime. The late James Ciordon Bennett was, so far as 1
know, the first to discover that news-gatherers were more
important than leader-writers for procuring readers and ad\'er-
tisers. His example has prettv much emancipated the dailv
newspaper in this country from any dependence upon political
organizations, and has transferred newspaper property in a
great measure from the proprietorship of editors to that of
capitalists ; into organs of public opinion rather than of party
opinion ; into followers rather than leaders, servants of the

52 THE EVENING POST

public rather than its masters. Among the editorial writers
upon the Evening Post during my time, I should mention
William M. Thayer, afterwards Consul to Egypt while 1
was Minister in Paris. He broke down in health, and Mr.
Seward gave him the consulate at Alexandria, where he died
a few \'ears later ot consumption. Thaver had had some
experience in writing tor magazines in connection with
Charles Hale, brother of Edward Everett Hale. At the
time of the attempt of Walker to conquer and colonize
Nicaragua, I sent Thayer to Washington, where he became
acquainted with Walker, who invited him to accompanv him
on his famous expedition. Ours was, I believe, the onlv
paper that had a special correspondent there. When he re-
turned I sent him again to Washington, where he was very
much esteemed. He had the ear of all the important
people in Washington, especially Fish, Seward, Chase, and
Sumner.

"■ Rut for the condition of his health he would probably
have been received into our firm. He had in him intellectu-
ally the making of a notable journalist.

" With the exception ot Mr. Godwin and mvselt, I
belie\'e every person who was ever on the staff ot the
Evening Post in my time, whether as editor, reporter, or cor-
respondent, is now dead. The same is true of most of its
corps ot occasional contributors, among whom, as worthv ot
special notice, I may mention Azariah C. Flagg, the Comp-
troller of the State, and afterwards of the citv of New York ;
Francis P. Blair, the editor of the Washington Globe during
the administrations ot Jackson and Van Buren ; Senator
Thomas H. Benton, of Missouri ; Judge William Kent, son
of the Chancellor; Gideon Welles, of Connecticut, Secretary
of the Navy under Lincoln ; John Van Buren ; William
Cassidy, at one time editor of the Albany Atlas and corre-
spondent of the Evening Post, and your old associate, Mr.
Godkin.

HUNDREDTH ANNI\'ERSARY 53

"All these men, who contributed not a little to whatever
reputation and influence the Evening Post enjoyed in those
days, have also, with the exception of Mr. Godkin, long
since joined the majority. Judge Kent, who was probably in
a literar\' sense the most accomplished member ot the New
York bar ot his time, became sufficiently enamored ot journal-
ism as a profession, between 1855 and i860, to intimate to
me a desire to join Mr. Bryant and myselt in the Evening
Post. Personally, the association would have been very
agreeable to all parties, and it probably would have been con-
summated, but tor a divergence ot view between him and the
Evening Post, developed atter the nomination of Lincoln for
President, which threatened to render such a connection in-
compatible with the independence ot one ot the parties.

"The Judge, like Mr. Tilden, apprehended ci\'il war and
disunion as the probable consequences ot the triumph of a
candidate for the Presidency by the votes ot the tree States
alone. It was to him that Mr. Tilden addressed his letter
of warning to the country ot the danger ot embattling a solid
North against a solid South.

"In those days, as in later times, the Evening Post
devoted more attention to literature and book reviews than
any other paper except the Tribune, where Mr. George
Ripley made the book department a feature ot great import-
ance. Mr. Brvant used to write short notices ot books, for
we had no special man tor that work. What he did not do I
commonly did — mostly long reviews, with extracts, etc. You
see, in those days the expense ot a newspaper had to be
watched very caretullv. Now the newspapers have to be
careful not to spend too little.

" I managed in the course ot the years I was in the
Evening Post to make a satisfactory living. I had besides
two years in Europe, two vacations in the West Indies, and
I retired with what I thought an ample competence, grateful
to the profession that had given it to me. But the profession

54 THE EVENING POST

had become a little irksome to me in one particular. I was
compelled to spend most of mv energies in criticising other
people — a lite ot antagonism that is not naturally congenial to
me. It was a great relief to be out of it, and no longer
responsible tor what some people were doing that I was
unable to approve ot. It is difficult enough to judge the
motives ot our own conduct ; to judge the motives of others
is dangerous."

Notes by Carl Schurz

Editor 1SS1-S3

IN March, 1S81, having turned over to my successor the
Interior Department, at the head of which I had been
during the Administration of President Hayes, I went
from Washington to Boston tor the purpose ot attending a
banquet. Before leaving Washington I received a letter from
my friend Mr, Horace White, asking me to stop over night
in New York, as he wished to lav lietore me a project which
he thought might interest me. 1 complied with his request,
and in New York Mr. White met me, together with Mr.
Henry Villard. 1 had heard of Mr. Villard's great enter-
prises in the far West, but had never had any personal
acquaintance with him, not even by letter. Mr. Villard then
told me that he had conceived the idea ot purchasing the
controlhng interest in the Kvening Post, that journal to be
put under the editorial control of Mr. Horace White, Mr.
E. L. Godkin, and myself, I to occupy the position of chief
editor. Mr. Villard, in whom I found, to my great surprise,
not only an active man ot af1"airs ot a large conception, but an
enthusiastic idealist of extraordinary public spirit, pictured to
me in impressive language the influence on public opinion
which might be exercised by the proposed combination, and
warmly urged the plan upon mv consideration. The consent
of Mr. White and Mr. Godkin had already been obtained.

Upon my return from Boston we met again and discussed
the plan in detail, and alter mature consideration the enter-

CARL SCHURZ, EDITOR iSSi-S:

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 57

prise was resolved upon. It was agreed, and I might say as
a matter of course, that the editors should be in entire con-
trol ot the paper, and that the Evening Post should be an
independent journal in the truest sense — that is, it should
treat public questions, political, economic, or social, upon
their own merits, without respect of persons or political
parties, or of social influences or other interests. The editors
should also be permitted to purchase as much of the stock ot
the company as they might like. Mr. V^illard assured us that
this was just what he had in mind, and that the paper should
be absolutely tree trom any mfluence on the part ot the owner-
ship, a promise which was most conscientiously kept.

I leave the detailed history of the career of the Evening
Post to other hands ; but I may add that, despite occasional
mistakes of information or errors ot judgment, which no daily
newspaper, however carefully conducted, can entirely avoid, the
Evening Post has, by the observance of the principles of
conduct then agreed upon, won the respect and confidence ot
serious men and women all over the country, and succeeded
in setting people to thinkmg m so extraordinary a degree
that it may well be said to have thus achieveci an almost
unique position in American journalism.

The Evening Post from

1 88 I to the Present Day

By Horace White, Editor since iSgg

THE ownership of the Evening Post in 1881 was
vested in Mr. Parke Godwin and Mr. Isaac Hender-
son, the former being a proprietor in his own right
and controlling also the interest ot the late William C.
Bryant. In pursuance of the arrangement recited bv Mr.
Schurz in the preceding narrative, the shares of both were
purchased. Before the purchase was completed, however,
the suggestion had been made to Mr. Villard bv Mr. E. L.
Godlcin, the editor ot the Nation, that that paper should be
taken over and made a weekly edition ot the Evening Post,
which suggestion had the concurrence also ot Mr. W. P.
Garrison, the associate editor and general manager of the
Nation. This plan was carried into effect.

Mr. Villard's motives in purchasing the Evening Post
were wholly of a public nature. He wished to do something
useful to his adopted countr\' h\ taking a daily journal ot
established reputation and putting it m charge ot men who
would give it increased influence and authority. He in-
formed them that they were absolutely independent of him-
self, independent ot the counting-room, and independent of
party. To make good this declaration, he placed all ot his
shares in a trust, with David A. Wells, Benjamin H. Bristow,
and Horace White trustees, with all the powers that he could
have exercised. This trust remained in force tor several

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 59

years, and at its expiration Mr. Villard turned the property
over wholly to other members of his family. Mr. Godkin
once said that he knew of no other man, in his wide circle of
acquaintance, who would have acted so generously and dis-
interestedly in thus effacing himself from the control of an
important pecuniary investment.

The history of the Evening Post from that period to the
present time must be found in the positions it took, the
judgments it formed, and the opinions it expressed on the
leading questions of the day. A newspaper which merely
inks over a certain amount of white paper each day may be
a good collector of news, it may be successful as a business
venture, but it can leave no mark upon its time and can have
no history.

The new management became invested with the editorial
control of the paper on the 1st of July, 1881.

On the day following this event (July 2) President Gar-
field was shot in the railway station at Washington city by
Charles J. Guiteau, an office-seeker of unbalanced mind. At
the time when this tragedy was enacted, Senator Conkling and
Vice-President Arthur were in Albany working for the vindi-
cation of the former in his quarrel with the Administration.
Mr. Conkling had resigned his seat in the United States
Senate in order to express his indignation at the appomtment
by the President of Judge Robertson as Collector of Customs
at New York, in place of Merritt, removed, and had gone to
Albany to secure a reelection by the Legislature as a rebuke
to the President. In this enterprise he had secured the
cooperation of his colleague, Senator Piatt. This was the first
event upon which the Evening Post under its new manage-
ment had to express an opinion. It took the position that
the quarrel, being a difference about " spoils " and not about
principles, was one in which there was little to choose between
the President and the Senator, although the latter was making
himself ridiculous by his method of carrying on the fight.

EDWIN LAWRENCE GODKIN', EDITOR iSS:-iS

3-1*99

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 6i

On the course of Vice-President Arthur, however, it expressed
the opinion that he was severely censurable for espousing
Mr. Conkling's quarrel, and that he had lowered the dignity
of his office by making himself Mr. Conkling's tool at
Albany. At the same time it expressed the opinion that it
Mr. Arthur should become President under such circum-
stances, he would probably be a more conservative and digni-
fied one by reason of the sobering caused bv Guiteau's pistol-
shot. A few words quoted from one of its articles on this
subject possess interest in connection with the assassination
of President McKinley :

" He [Mr. Arthur] is a man of education as well as oi"
affairs, of an amiable and yielding disposition, and hence
more likely to be impressed with the responsibilities of his
new station, and the fatality through which it fell to his lot,
than a person of narrow mind and headstrong temper would
be. The duty ot the people to him in the event of President
Garfield's death will be no less imperative and binding than
his duty to them. He will be entitled to the forbearance
and confidence due to one who has neither sought nor
expected the Presidential office, but who assumes it in
obedience to law and under verv trying circumstances.
Mourn as we all may and must for our elected chief, if he be
lost, the country has still higher claims upon us. To see
that the republic receives no detriment is the first command
laid upon every citizen. The sobriety and reasonableness
which carried us through the crisis of" a disputed Presidency
will not fail us in the emergency now so painfully appre-
hended."

President Garfield died on the 19th of September, and
the Evening Post's greeting to his successor was in these
words :

" To-day President Arthur receives from all parts of the
country assurances of good will, of sincere wishes for his
success. These assurances come from journals and from men

HORACE WHITE, PRESENT EDITOR OF THE EX'ENIXG POST

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 63

of all political parties and shades of opinion, who esteem the
welfare of the country a higher consideration than the fortunes
or tate of any man, and we have no doubt they are sincerely
meant. Every good citizen shares the feeling which inspires
them, and will be heartily glad to find in President Arthur's
Administration much to praise and support, and little to con-
demn and oppose. Nevertheless, it must be remembered
that these expressions of sympathy and good will are given
in advance, and that President Arthur's ultimate relations
with the people will depend entirely upon the manner in which
he understands and performs the duties of his high office."

Mr. Arthur's Administration was in general dignified and
wholesome. It was marred by some bad appointments to
office, which led to a split in the Republican partv in New
York in the election of 1882, which resulted in the election
of Grover Cleveland (Democrat) as Governor by a plurality
of 192,854. In the Congressional elections of the same year
the Democrats secured 191 seats in the House of Represent-
atives and the Republicans 119. The Republican party was
now thoroughly alarmed. It attributed its overthrow in the
elections to the frequent scandals in the civil service and to
the assessments levied on office-holders for campaign ex-
penses. In a penitential mood it passed the so-called Pen-
dleton bill, which, for the first time, made assessments on
office-holders unlawful and made appointment and promotion
to certain positions in the Federal service — mainly clerk-
ships — dependent upon competitive examination. It also
established machinery tor carrying the reform into effect.
This was a measure for which the P'.vening Post under its
new management had contended zealously ; the Nation had
been conspicuous and unremitting in its labors to the same
end from its foundation, in 1865. The Pendleton bill
became a law in January, 1883. The Evening Post ex-
pressed the opinion that President Arthur would carry out
the measure in eood faith, but it added ;

HENRY VILLARD

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 65

" His successor may be a man who will see in it nothing
but a Republican device to cheat Democrats out of their well-
earned rewards, or a weak man unable to resist the pressure
of old friends and patrons. In either case constant vigilance
will be necessary, until all trace of the notion that the public
offices are spoils, or prey, has disappeared from the public
mind."

Fortunately, the apprehension here expressed was not
realized. The election ot 1882, which gave the Democrats
control of the House, as already said, made Grover Cleve-
land Governor of New York. He was then a new man in
public life, for although he had served a term as Mayor of
Buffalo acceptably, his name was little known outside of his
own immediate neighborhood. His election to the office of
Governor was an event of the first importance in national
politics.

In the autumn of 1883 Mr. Schurz voluntarily retired
from the editorship ot the Evening Post and was succeeded
by Mr. Godkin.

Early in 1884 it became evident that James G. Blaine
would be a formidable candidate for the Republican nomina-
tion for the Presidency. He had been a candidate betore the
Convention of 1S76, when the nomination finally went to
Governor Hayes, of Ohio. He had been defeated then by a
timely exposure of certain transactions with the Little Rock
and Fort Smith Railroad Company while he was Speaker ot
the House of Representatives. The details of these trans-
actions were embraced in a correspondence between Mr. Blaine
and Warren Fisher, Jr., of Boston, known as the Mulligan let-
ters, from the name of the man in whose custody they had been
placed by Mr. Fisher. Eight years had elapsed since the
Mulligan letters had been made public, yet they seemed to
constitute, in the minds of Mr. Blaine's supporters, no bar to
his nomination for the office of President in 1884.

The E>vening Post thought otherwise. It had been a

66 THE EVENING POST

Republican paper hitherto, as the Nation had been also, in
the sense that they had never failed to support the Republican
nomuiees in Presidential campaigns, but the editors foresaw that
if Mr. Blaine were nominated in the face of the Mulligan
letters, they could not support the Republican ticket in the
coming campaign, and that in all probability the partv would
lose the Presidenc\', tor the first time since the election of
Mr. Lincoln in i860. Accordingly, in the month of April,
the Evening Post published editorially a full statement of the
charges against Mr. Blaine in connection with the railroad,
and expressed the belief that he had made use of the Speaker-
ship for the purpose of private gain, and that if he were
nominated, he would be defeated. This article was the
opening ot the anti-Blaine campaign.

Mr. Blaine was, nevertheless, nominated b\' the Repub-
hcans. The Democrats nominated Grover Cleveland, and
the F-vening Post gave him its active support. Mr. Cleve-
land carried the State ot New York by a small pluralit\", and
was elected.

The Evening Post had declared before the election that
civil-service retorm could never be well rooted in national
policy, or in the public opinion which constitutes and entorces
national polic\', until it should have stood the test ot a change
ot political power at Washington. It had expressed the
belief that Mr. Cleveland could be depended on to execute
the new law in its letter and spirit. It took up this text and
made the subject prominent in its discussions ot public atfairs
during the interval between Mr. Cleveland's election and his
inauguration. The President-elect wrote a letter December
25, 18S4, to Mr. Ct. W. Curtis, announcing his purpose not
only to execute the Pendleton act according to its terms, but
also to extend its operation as tar and as fast as practicable,
but declaring at the same time that of^ce-holders not covered
by the Pendleton act, who had proved themselves offensive
partisans and unscrupulous manipulators ot local party man-

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 67

agement, must not expect to be retained in office — a position
which the Evening Post considered justifiable. In this inter-
val, too, Mr. Cleveland wrote a letter to the Hon. A. J.
Warner and other Democratic members of Congress, indi-
cating his opposition to the coinage ot silver then going on
under the Bland act. The Evening Post had been a zealous
and unceasing opponent of- that measure, and it gave a hearty
support to Mr. Cleveland in the fight over this question,
which continued for nine years longer, and ended in victory
in the autumn of 1893, when the Sherman act, which super-
seded the Bland act, was repealed.

In the municipal campaign ot 1884 the Evening Post
supported Mr. William R. Grace for Mayor, the opposing
candidates being Grant (Tam.) and Gibbs (Rep.). Mr.
Grace was elected by a plurality of about 11,000.

Six months after Mr. Cleveland's inauguration as Presi-
dent the Evening Post congratulated its readers on the fact
that, although the Democratic party had come into power
after a lapse of fourteen years, the American republic seemed
to be still in a good state ot preservation and tairly well con-
tented. It said :

" The superstition which had come to possess a large
proportion of Republicans that the accession ot the Democracy
to power would involve the ruin ot the country has been for
ever dispelled. It seems almost incredible now that only a
few months ago there were hosts of men who fully and sin-
cerely believed that the election of Mr. Cleveland meant the
bankruptcy of the P'ederal Treasury by the payment ot the
'rebel claims,' the loss of all the truits of the war, and such a
general political, financial, and moral upheaval as would set
the natio'n back twenty years. Popular government is a
failure If a party which comprises a majority of the people
cannot be trusted to govern the whole people. Six months
ago a considerable percentage of the public held this most
discouraging view of the result of a century's trial of the

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 69

American experiment. To-day the man who should begin
ranting about the country's gomg to ruin because the Demo-
crats were in power would simply be laughed at, even bv
Republicans whom he formerly duped most badly. To have
thus restored faith in government of the people, whatever
servants they may employ to do their work, is in itself a great
achievement."

In 1885—6 one ot the leading measures before Congress
was the Blair Educational Bill, which proposed to appropriate
^100,000,000 from the national Treasury to run through a
series of years as an aid to education in the South. The
Evening Post opposed it on the ground that such donations
tended to deaden the spirit ot selt-help. Its position was
summed up in the tollowing words:

" All the plans tor Federal aid proceed upon the assump-
tion that such aid will be a good thing for the South. It is
this assumption which we combat. We maintam that the
worst thing that could befall the cause ot education in the
South would be a series ot liberal appropriations trom the
national Treasury for a series of years. We mean, ot course,
the worst thing in the long run, for no judgment upon such
a matter is of any value which is not based upon a long look
ahead. We are ready to admit that more Southern voters
might be able to read ten years hence it 5 100,000,000 should
be appropriated by Congress, for use chiefly m Southern
schools, than if the States were left to their own resources ;
but we insist that this temporary gain in intelligence would
be purchased at the cost of a permanent loss in character
vastly more important — the loss of self-reliance and self-
respect."

The Blair Educational Bill was before Congress several
vears. The first vote on it in the Senate was taken April 7,
1884, at which time there was a majority in favor of the bill
of three to one (yeas ^3^ nays 11). It was passed by the
Senate a second time, March 5, 1886, yeas 35, nays 12 ; and

70 THE EVENING POST

a third time, February 15, 1888, yeas 39, nays 29. In none
ot these cases did it come to a vote in the House. It was
finally defeated in the Senate March 20, 1890, by yeas 39,
nays 43. What is more remarkable is the fact that a major-
ity of the Senators from the States that would have re-
ceived most ot the money voted against it. It was the
general belief at the time that the arguments advanced by
the Evening Post were chiefly instrumental in defeating the
measure.

There was an exciting municipal campaign in the autumn
of 1886, the candidates for Mayor being Abram S. Hewitt,
Henry George, and Theodore Roosevelt. 7 he Evening
Post supported Mr. Hewitt, who was elected by a plurality
of about 23,000.

In the Presidential campaign of 1888 the Evening Post
supported Mr. Cleveland, but his Republican opponent,
General Harrison, was elected, Mr. Cleveland receiving, how-
ever, a plurality ot the popular vote. An event of minor
importance was the election of Hugh J. Grant, the Tammany
candidate, for Mayor of New York. The opposing candi-
dates were Abram S. Hewitt, the then incumbent of the
office, and Joel B. Erhardt, the Republican nominee.

The year 1890 was signalized by two measures of great
importance in national politics — the McKinle^' tariff" and the
Sherman Silver Bill. The House of Representatives was
controlled by the friends ot the former and the Senate bv the
silver men. The two measures were passed hv means ot a
political trade, although this tact was not made public until
some vears later. The Evening Post opposed both measures.
The tariff" bill was supported bv its ad\'ocates with the rather
shopworn argument that our infant industries still needed
protection. This droll plea moved an occasional contributor
to the columns ot the Evening Post to write for it a short
poem, which was published anonymously. The author was
James Russell Lowell. The poem was entitled :

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY

THE INFANT PRODIGY.

A veteran entered at my gate

With locks as cherry-blossoms white ;

His clothes proclaimed a prosperous fate.
His boots were arrogantly bright.

The hat was glossv on his head.

Gold-rimmed his eye-glass, gold his chain.
In genial curves his waistcoat spread.

And golden-headed was his cane.

Without a prehice thus he spoke,

"I've called to get my annual due";

Whereat I too the silence broke.

With: "Who, respected sir, are you.'

" What is vour claim against me, pray .'

A manv-childed man am ],
Hard pinched ni^' monthly bills to pay.

And prices rule perversely high."

"Not know me.' Everybod\' knows

And gladly gives his mite," quoth he.

" Whv, I'm a babe in swaddling clothes,
I am an Infant Industry."

"Forgive me, Reverend Shape," I cried,
"You set m\" taith a heavy task;

This iniancv which seems vour pride.
Is it voar second, mav I ask r

" Or have "\'ou, where so manv failed.
The kev to life's Eli.vir found .'

You look like one who never ailed.
In wind and limb sedateb- ^ound."

"You doubt m\' word.' (E.xciise these tears
Thev flow for you and not for me.)

Young man, for more than seventy years
I've been an Infant Industry.

72 THE EVENING POST

" Your father rued mv helpless lot.

Lifelong he handed me his fee.
Nor ever asked himself for what;

He loved an Infant Industrv. "

Ouoth 1, " He paid m\" ransom then

From further tribute, small or great.
Besides, it I can judge of men.

Since that vou've grown to man's estate."

He murmured, as I bowed him out,

" The \yorld is getting worse and worse;

This fellow makes me almost doubt

Whether I've not been changed at nurse.

" But no; this hat, this cane, these boot,^.

This suit in London made b\' P.,
Con\-ince me to the very roots

I am an Infant Industry"

Until he vanished from mv sight

These words came floating back to me:

"Yes, spite of Time, in Reason's spite,
I am an Infant Industry."

While the Sherman Silver Bill was pending; the Evening
Post predicted that if it should become a law it would lead to
a financial crisis. It said :

" Experience teaches that the present coinage rate ot two
millions per month [under the Bland act] is all that the public
will take ofi" the Secretarv's hands. Anv excess ot silver
purchases will, therefore, be an addition to the public ex-
penses, exactly the same as a new pension bill, or anv other
unproductive expenditure. It is the same thing as buvmg
any kind of property not wanted for use. But the conse-
quence ot a great increase ot the public expenses is to create
a Treasury deficit, and whene\'er this happens, and however
it may come about, the Treasury will no longer be able to
maintain parity between gold and silver. Not only will the

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 73

silver crisis then begin, but another kind of crisis will begin
at the same time. A Treasury deficit does not exhaust itself
with silver payments. Unless taxes are increased, so as to
choke the deficit, bonds must be issued to meet current
expenses. This is what we have to look forward to it any
such insensate ineasure becomes a law."

These predictions were more than fulfilled within three
years.

In the summer ot 1890, in preparation for the municipal
campaign of that year, the Evening Post published a series
of biographical sketches ot the leaders ot Tammanv Hall, and
accompanied the same with an editorial article which made
them extremely angry. This article concluded with these
words :

" The work the Evening Post has been doing about
these men and their kind is work which ought not, in an\'
highly civilized community, to devolve on a journalist at all.
We do not believe any civilized community has heretofore
left it to its journalists. The wav m which such men usualK-
come under the notice of the press is in comment on the
efforts of the police to watch them, and catch them, or on
the sentences passed on them by the criminal courts. Writing
their history with the view of keeping them out ot places ot
civil honor and trust is surely an unprecedented editorial ex-
perience in a great capital, and yet this is the task which New
York to-day imposes on its newspapers. It is a task which,
it seems, has to be performed, but it is one which no respect-
able journalist can perform without shame and indignation."

Shortly afterwards a series of warrants of arrest were
issued against Mr. Godkin, the editor of the paper, charging
him with criminal libel. They were issued on the complaint
of various Tammany politicians whose biographies had been
published in the Evening Post. The warrants were served
at times and places where it would be most inconvenient to
procure bail ; not for the purpose of a trial on the charge ot

74 THE EVENING POST

libel, but to cause personal annoyance. In one such case a
policeman came to Mr. Godkin's house Sunday morning, before
he had risen, and insisted upon going to his bedroom, where
he served the warrant, and refused to leave the room except
with Mr. Godkin m custody. Not a single one ot these
cases ever came to trial. Thev \vere all dismissed for want
of prosecution.

The Republicans were defeated in the Congressional elec-
tions of 1890, electing only 87 members out ot a total of
332 — an unexampled defeat, due to the passage of the
McKinlev Tarift' Bill. The municipal campaign in New
York resulted in the re-election of Grant (Tamman\) for
Mayor against Scott (Fusion).

In the ensuing campaign ot 1892 Mr. Cleveland received
his party's nomination a third time, despite the tact that the
regular Democratic delegation trom his own State, led by
David B. Hill, was unanimously and bitterly opposed to
him. The Kvening Post ad\'ocated the sending of a volun-
teer delegation of New York Democrats to Chicago to coun-
teract the influence of the regulars and to urge the nomination
of Mr. Cleveland. This was done. A com-ention was held
at Syracuse, and a delegation headed bv William C. Whitney
was sent to Chicago tor the purpose aforesaid. It accom-
plished the work which it was appointed to do, and without
much difficulty, for it found two-thirds of the delegates, other
than those of New York, enthusiastic for Mr. Cleveland,
who was nominated on the first ballot, and was elected in
November by a very large majority.

After the election the Evening Post pointed out the
necessity of repealing the Sherman Silver Act, and called upon
Senator Sherman himself to assist, in order to avert impending
financial disaster. A tew da\'S later an interview with Mr.
Sherman was published in which he expressed a sincere desire to
put a stop to the Government's purchase of silver, but said that
legislation on the subject must depend somewhat on the

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 75

outcome of the Brussels Monetary Conference, which began its
sessions in November, 1892. The Evening Post predicted
the utter failure ot that Conference, saying :

" They [the European delegates] have not overlooked
the fact that our currency is still in politics — that is, is voted
on, or liable to he voted on every two years at the election
of members of Congress — and that the enormous store of
silver we now have in the Treasury vaults has been accumu-
lated not under the influence of financial, but of political con-
siderations, not because our experts recommend it, but because
a large bod\' of voters, who know little or nothing about the
matter, demanded it, and in spite of the warnings and pro-
tests of nearh' every instructed person in the country. We
have only to state these facts to show that an mternational
agreement with regard to the coinage, which depended for
its maintenance and success on the fidelity of every one of
the parties to it, would practically put the currency of every
country which adhered to it into the American political arena,
and compel it to watch our elections with the utmost anxiety
lest the result of the vote should break up the compact. To
suppose that France, Germany, and England are going to
expose their standard of value to a risk of this sort is to sup-
pose that their business men have lost all their sagacitv. It
is, in fact, a ridiculous supposition."

On the 17th of December the news came that the Brussels
Conference had adjourned without coming to any agreement,
except to reassemble in the month of May, 1893, which it
failed to do.

The financial troubles that the Evening Post had pre-
dicted as the sure result of the Sherman Act and the McKinley
tariff came in the summer of 1893. The part that the Tariff
Bill played consisted in the repeal of the sugar duties and the
payment of bounties on the production of home-grown sugar,
causing a loss of over $60,000,000 of revenue and making it
necessary for the Secretary of the Treasury to take money

76 THE EVENING POST

out of the greenback redemption fund to ineet the ordinary
expenses ot the Government. The holders of legal-tender
notes, anticipating this contingency, began to present them at
the Treasury for redemption. The gold reserve fell below
the traditional sum of $100,000,000 in April. On June 26
the Government of India demonetized silver, the price of
which fell 15 cents per ounce in three days. A panic of great
severity began in Wall Street. On June 30 the President
called Congress together in extra session to repeal the Sher-
man Act, fixing August i as the time for meeting. The
Evening Post believed that the turning point had at last
been reached and that the silver craze, although it might
hnger somewhat, was now on the decline. It closed an
article on this subject with the following paragraph :

" The term ' siK^er lunacy ' has been treated as a term of
vituperation, but it is nothing of the kind. It is stricth' de-
scriptive. It denotes a wave of popular hallucination, such
as, in past ages, usually arose in the field ot religion and dealt
with the supernatural, or expended itself on the infidels, or
the witches, or the Jews. Had we alone had to deal with it,
there is no knowing into what slough it would have plunged
us before passing awav. Happily, some power over the
object of the superstition remained m the hands ot the saner
portion ot mankind in other countries. The Latin Union,
England, and now India, had the fortunes of the idol more
or less in their hands, and have, mercifully for us, used their
power to rip him open and exhibit his fraudulent insides to
his dupes."

Congress assembled at the appointed time, and the House,
under the lead of the late William L. Wilson, promptly
passed a bill to repeal the Sherman Silver Act. The bill
went to the Senate, and after a long debate, which disclosed
the fact that a majority was favorable to its passage, the
minority refused to allow a vote to be taken, and began to
filibuster against it. The filibustering continued for weeks.

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 77

The majority resorted to night sessions in order to bring on
a vote, but tailed in the effort. If the right ot the majority to
govern could be overborne in this way, the Evening Post
considered the condition of things at Washington akin to
revolution. It said :

" There can be no Union without the rule of the majority,
and under any suspension, or impairment, of that rule, the
country must dissolve into its original parts. We say this
not because the Silver Bill is the immediate subject of dis-
cussion, but because the same result must come to pass when-
ever the majority principle is broken down. If we have
reached the point in our national existence where the obstruc-
tion ot a minority cannot be overcome, then patriotic citizens
must drop all other concerns and lay aside all other differ-
ences until the rule of majority is reestablished. . . . The
time for compromise is past. Better that we should meet
national bankruptcy, inability to meet the interest on the public
debt, or the salaries of Congressmen, judges. Cabinet officers,
or pensions, or the cost of carrying the mails. Better that
we should come to the silver standard and all that that
implies, scaling down the wages ot workingmen and shaving
the deposits in savings banks 35 per cent. Better any kind
ot financial calamity than the overthrow ot the rule of the
majority, on which our present and future national existence
depends."

On October 28 the minority stopped filibustering, and
allowed a vote to be taken, but it remains doubtful to this
dav whether they yielded in obedience to the spirit of Con-
stitutional government and fair dealing, or because they had
heard that Secretary Carlisle would not buy any more silver
until the bill was voted on. There was a majority of eleven
votes in favor of repealing the Sherman Act.

The repeal of the Sherman Act did not put the Treasury
in tunds, however. It did not choke the deficit caused by
the repeal of the sugar duties, and the new Pension Bill.

78 THE EVENING POST

There was a shortage of revenue to meet expenses during the
three years i894-'95-'96 of ^137,8 1 7 ,730. This was addi-
tional to the ^155,981,000 paid for silver purchased under the
Sherman Act. These two sums, amounting to §29;), 792, 730,
had to be borrowed during the Cleveland Administration.
This Treasm-y deficit, threatening to overturn the standard
ot value, was the main cause ot the panic and the subsequent
commercial distress and of the labor troubles which broke out
in 1894.

Among these most conspicuous manifestations were the
marching ot " Coxey's army " upon Washington and the out-
break of the Debs riot at Chicago. The latter occurred in
July, 1894. It took the form of a boycott of the Pullman
Car Company. Eugene V. Debs was the President ot the
so-called American Railway Union, an organization ot train-
men, switchmen, and track employees. Neither Debs nor
his men had anything to do with the Pullman Company or
with car manufacturing. Mr. Pullman had been compelled,
by the declining price of cars and by the lessened demand for
them, either to reduce wages or to close his works and throw
his men out of employment. He had reduced the wages to
some extent. At the time when Debs entered upon the
scene the Pullman Company was making and selling cars at
less than actual cost in order to keep its men employed. At
this juncture Debs, in behalf of the American Railway Union,
demanded that the Pullman Company should either restore
the former rate ot wages or submit the question ot doing so
to arbitration. This demand was rejected by the Pullman
Company. Then Debs ordered the members ot the American
Railway Union not to " handle " Pullman cars — that is, to
refuse to operate trains containing Pullman cars. Twenty-
three railroads, mostly between Chicago and the Pacific Coast,
were brought to a deadlock by this means.

On the 8th of July, President Cleveland issued a proc-
lamation commanding all persons who were engaged in

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 79

unlawful attempts to interfere with the movement of trains
employed in interstate commerce to retire to their respective
abodes. He gave an order simultaneously to the military
authorities to disperse the crowds in the city of Chicago which
were interfermg with such trains. The order was promptly
obeyed, the rioters were driven away without bloodshed, and
the Debs boycott came to an end even more sudden than its
beginning. Congress was at that time m session, but as there
was an election approaching, not a single member of the
House of Representatives dared to utter a word in commenda-
tion of the President's course. The Evening Post gave its
opinion of their behavior in these words :

" A disheartening effect ot this troublous time is the
cowardice of Congressmen at Washington. A few Senators
have spoken out like men, but it has been impossible to get
a positive expression of opinion from any Representative of
standing. While the respectable press of the country is a
unit in applauding and sustaining the President, and while
the great mass of the people are delighted and relieved by his
firm attitude, Congress sits by shamefaced and cowering. The
only resolutions introduced are firebrands of Populists, and it
is only the rule requiring their reference to a committee which
saves us from incendiary speeches by our lawmakers. If
Congress had any men left in it, it would have passed ere this
a joint resolution holding up the hands of the President and
rebuking and warning anarchists. But the anarchists have
votes, and the most valiant Congressman who remembers that
election day is only four months off runs from the interviewer
in a fright. It takes a purblind demagogue, in the Washing-
ton haze which always distorts popular opinion, to think for
a moment that there is a vote to be gained by anybody in
crawling before the anarchists. Everybody with the cobwebs
out of his eyes sees that the men like Senator Davis, of Min-
nesota, and the President himself, are the men whom the
nation delights to honor, and that there never before was so

THE EVENING POST

much public contempt for the trimmer, who haws and hums
and dodges when a national crisis comes."

The Evening Post supported the candidacy of Col.
William L. Strong for Mayor of New York in the campaign
of 1894, which resulted in his election by a plurality of about
45,000 over Hugh J. Grant, the Tammany candidate. It

opposed the project of
consolidating the cities
now torming Greater
New York, as it believed
that such union would
lead to a large increase m
the cost ot the municipal
government, with no im-
provement in its quality,
but probably a deteriora-
tion ot It by extending
Tammany misrule over
a wider area.

The Evening Post was
deeply pained by Presi-
dent Cleveland's warlike
message to Congress in
December, 1895, on the
Venezuelan question. As
the trouble has wholly
passed away, there is no
occasion for reproducing
its comments on that
episode, but a tew words may be reprinted which were called out
by certain petitions otfered up to the throne of Grace by the
Chaplain of the House of Representatives at that crisis, in one
of which he prayed that " we might be quick to resent any in-
sult offered to this our nation," and in another he besought the
Almighty tor peace on condition that it should be honorable.

WENDELL PHILLIPS CiARRISON

Literary Editor ot The Evening Post and Editor ot
thie Nation since I 88 I

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY

Upon these remarkable adjurations the Evening Post re-
marked :

"We warn all fighting parsons that by no form of words
can they conceal from the Deity what they are up to. The
petitions reached the throne oi Grace stripped of all rhetorical
drapery in their naked barbarity. Here is the torm in which
their prayer arrives at its destination : ' O Lord, grant that we
may be able to kill plenty of our enemies and destroy their
property for any reason that may seem good to ourselves.'
The ' patriotism ' and the ' self-respect ' and the ' honor,' and
all the other tinsel and shabby finery in which these gentle-
men invest their war-whoops never reach the upper air of
divine peace and love. Nobody is imposed on by these
blasphemous harangues, while many are deeply disgraced.
But the chaplains are not wholly to blame. All Jingoes who
try to clothe simple hatred of England, or ot any foreign
nation, with the sacred name ot love ot country, or patriotism,
are as great humbugs as the chaplain. A desire to invade
Canada and kill Englishmen through simple dislike ditfers in
no respect except intensity trom the feelmg with which the
Iroquois used to start out on the war-path to kill the
Mohawks. The patriotism of the modern man, and above
all the American man, is a desire not to wade in enemy's
blood, but to make his country preeminent in the arts of
peace. It is one thing to defend one's house mantully it
compelled, but quite another to wander about among the
barrooms, in order to chastise anybody who seems likely to
insult you."

The Evening Post took an active part in the movement
for a treaty of arbitration of future ditferences with Great
Britain, which led to a great conference at Washington city,
presided over by ex-Senator Edmunds, and which President
Cleveland supported and promoted with so much earnestness
that such a treaty was actually negotiated and sent to the
Senate. The treaty failed of ratification, but the popular move-

82 THE EVENING POST

ment which carried it forward smoothed the way to a peaceful
settlement ot the Venezuela dispute, and was not without in-
fluence in promoting the success of the Hague Conference.

When William J. Bryan was nominated in Julv, 1H96, bv
the Democratic party for President of the United States on a
platform which demanded the tree coinage ot silver at the
ratio ot 16 to i without reference to the action ot an\' other
nation, the Evening Post said that this scheme, it carried into
effect, would be equivalent to repudiation ot one-halt ot all
debts, public and private, that this was the great and over-
powering issue ot the campaign, and that it should gne its
support to the Republican nominees, McKinlev and Hobart.
When the campaign was ended the Kvening Post had this
to say :

" We have escaped trom what a large number ot people
supposed was an immense danger, the danger ot having our
currency adulterated and our torm ot government changed
and a band ot ignoramuses and Populists put at the head ot
the great American republic. Probably no man in civil lite
has succeeded in inspiring so much terror without taking lite
as Bryan.

" The world has never before witnessed the spectacle ot
an immense number of people drawing gold out ot solvent
banks and locking it up lest the value ot their money should
be reduced one-halt by the result ot an election — this, too, m
a time ot profound peace. As election day drew nearer
this movement became more pronounced, causing unexpected
tightness in the money market. On Thursday call money
touched 100 per cent., and it loaned at that rate on the fol-
lowing day. It is the estimate of good judges that 540,000,000
was thus hoarded, most of it during the past thirty days."

Events are now brought down to a period where they are
within the recollection of nearly all persons who will read this
review. Hence the remainder luay be briefly dismissed. The

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 83

Evening Post was opposed to war with Spain. It was
not indifferent to the wrongs and sufferings of the Cubans,
but it beheved that these were remediable without war. It
held and expressed the opinion that the Government of Spain
would concede everything that we demanded, even to a
complete withdrawal from Cuba, if she were given a little
time to reconcile her people to that policy and to show them
the necessity of it. This opinion received ample confirmation
afterward from Gen. Stewart L. Woodforci, our Minister
to that country. The Evening Post did not believe
that the destruction of the Maine was caused by any-
body operating outside of that ship, but held that if it
were so caused it did not follow that Spain was responsible
for the act.

After the war was ended, the Evening Post opposed the
policy ot taking the Philippine Islands as a conquered province
against the will of the inhabitants thereof It believed that
such a policy was in contravention of the principles of free
government, and that its tendency must be to lessen and
eventually to uproot our reverence for the rights of man as
affirmed in the Declaration ot Independence and enacted in
the Constitution of the United States. Holding this opinion,
which it considered fundamental, it could not support Mr.
McKinley for reelection in the last Presidential campaign.
It is needless to say that it did not support Mr. Bryan. It
heartily commended Mr. McKinley's policy of humane treat-
ment ot China in the deplorable eyents ot last year. It gave
the full measure of praise to his speech at Buffalo in behalf
of peace, the day before his assassination.

When the Ship-Subsidy Bill was brought forward in the
last Congress with the confident expectation ot Its promoters
that it would be speedily passed, the Evening Post gave a
large part ot its space and its utmost efforts to the exposure
of the socialistic and fraudulent character ot the measure. It
was the opinion of persons most closely conversant with the

84

THE EVENING POST

progress ot that fight that the Evening Post contributed very
much to the defeat of the Hanna-Payne bill.

The Evening Post favored the election of Mr. Odell as
Governor in 1900. His public acts and messages, thus far,
have vindicated its judgment of his character and abilities.
Although it neither tavored nor opposed the elevation of
Mr. Roosevelt to the position which made him the Constitu-
tional successor of Mr. McKinley, it has gladlv recognized
the meritorious and conservative spirit with which he has
entered upon an office which came to him under such dis-
tressing circumstances.

In the autumn of 1899 ^'^''- Godkin was compelled by
tailing health to sever his connection with the P.vening Post,
but continued tor some time to contribute articles to its col-
umns signed with his initials. He was succeeded in the
editorship ot the paper by Mr. Horace White.

Staff Reminiscences — i.

By William Alexander Linn, Managing Editor i8gi-igoo

WHEN I accepted the city editorship of the Evening
Post, in November, 1871, the paper was edited and
pubhshed in the ramshackle old four-story building
which then occupied the site of the present Bryant building,
on the northwest corner of Nassau and Liberty Streets. That
site had some advantages in those days which it would not now
possess. The Post-office was then diagonally opposite, and,
as there was no quick transit through the city, the nearness of
the office assisted in the early delivery of the mails. The near-
ness of the site to Wall Street was another advantage in those
days. There were no " tickers " then, to announce the stock
sales in the newspaper offices, and the Wall Street quotations
were printed in the newspaper from the official sheet of the
Stock Exchange, which was itself printed, as regards the
closing quotations, immediately after the business ot the
Exchange was concluded for the day. A messenger boy in
waiting seized the first copy and rushed with it to the news-
paper office, where it was cut into small " takes," and put into
type with all possible speed. 'J'he hour of going to press
with the last edition was then 4:15 P.M., an hour later than
at present.

As the editorial and composing rooms were confined to
the third floor, the editorial accommodations were very
restricted. Mr. Bryant had a little room, from which he
could escape unwelcome callers by means of a rear staircase.

86 THE EVENING POST

There were only three other editorial rooms, but, on the other
hand, there were not many editors.

When I joined the force, it consisted, besides Mr. Bryant,
of Charlton T. Lewis, the managing editor; his assistant,
Bronson Howard, the now famous dramatist; a telegraph
editor, who also acted as dramatic critic ; the city editor, and
the financial editor. Mr. Bryant was then only an occasional
contributor to the editorial page. My city force consisted ot
one salaried reporter and one reporter who was paid for what
he wrote. A city news association lent some assistance.

The smallness ot my reportonal force often caused per-
plexity, and 1 was, in emergencies, compelled to enlarge it by
calling for temporary assistance on any one within reach. I
had the pleasiu'e of developing some good journalists in this
way. The foreman of the composing room recommended
one of his compositors to me as a bright young man who had
editorial ambitions. I gave him some assignments, and he
speedily made his mark as a political reporter, and has for
more than twenty years filled the position of Washington
correspondent ot the New York Times, K. G. Bunnell.
Another young man in the ofiice, not connected with the
editorial force, to whom I gave his first reportorial work, was
K. A. Dithmar, who has since won a recognized position as
a dramatic critic.

The Evening Post at that time was a large four-page
sheet. The first page contained a little miscellaneous matter,
not much ot it original ; the editorials were printed on the
second page ; the so-called first and second edition news
(which went to the press at the same hour) occupied what
space the advertisements allowed on the third page ; and the
third and fourth edition news filled the space on the last
page. The last eciition news ot the previous day was always
reprinted in the earlier editions of the day following. In
seasons of the year when the advertising was heavy the space
allowed for edition news was very limited.

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 87

In the earlier days, even in metropolitan newspaper offices,
the foreman of the composing room was an autocrat in his
department who brooked little interference even from the
editors. The "make-up editor" was not then invented, and
the foreman disposed of the copy and the type largely at his
own discretion. The then foreman of the Evening Post,
Henry Dithmar, was a man of education and good literary
judgment. He spoke and wrote both English and German,
and his long connection with the paper had given him a
knowledge ot men and events which enabled him to correct
many an error that had slipped through the editorial rooms.
But his views of economy in his office were extreme, and I
had many a half-in-earnest contest with him. If late news
came in when he had enough matter in type to fill the news
space, something like pressure was needed to induce K\m to
set copy which would necessitate the " killing " of other
matter already in type. He had his own views, too, about
the handling of edition matter, and would often send back to
my desk copy which. I wanted set at once, with a message
that he already had enough to fill the space. But we were
warm friends to the day ot his death, and when the office
occupied its present quarters, there was no difficulty in ex-
ercising a larger editorial supervision over his room. Mr.
Dithmar afterwards was appointed United States Consul to
Breslau, Germany, a position which he filled with much credit.

There were many interestmg incidents connected with the
inner political history ot the Evening Post during my connec-
tion with it. The paper had supported the Republican party
ever since that party was organized, never concealing, of course,
its disapproval of a protective taritf. It seemed, however, in
1872, that there was to be a parting of the ways. The paper
found much to criticise in General Grant's administration,
and it looked with hope to the Independent Convention in
Cincinnati for the nomination of a third ticket, which it could
support with zeal, and which, even it not successful, would

THE EVENING POST

blaze the way for a movement that would succeed in later
years. Naturally, on both general and personal grounds, the
nomination of Horace Greeley by that Convention was a great
blow to Mr. Bryant's hopes. He disliked Greeley as a man,
and he had fought his tariff views too long to be willing to
accept him in any circumstances as a Presidential candidate.

1 remember that on the day when the nomination was
made, IV'Ir. Bryant was standing near my desk discussing the
possible outcome with some of the editors, when a telegram
was handed him from the news desk, announcing Greeley's
nomination. Looking up, with a quiet twinkle in his eye, he
remarked : " Well, there are some good points in Grant's
administration, atter all."

Mr. Bryant wrote an editorial headed," Why Mr. Greeley
Should Not Be Supported for the Presidency," which was
printed on May 4, 1872. It began as follows: " What was
at one time regarded as a good joke, the nomination ot
Horace Greeley for the position of President of the United
States, has, by the recent act of the Cincinnati Convention,
become sober earnest. It gives a certain air of low comedy
to the election in which the country is about to engage, but,
in spite of that, the subject is of such a nature, and the public
interest is so deeply concerned in it, that we are torced to
treat it seriously. We shall, therefore, put together a few
reasons why the nomination of Mr. Greeley is unworthy ot

support."

The first of these reasons was stated as follows: "He
lacks the courage, the firmness, and the consistency which are
required of the^Chief Magistrate of the nation." As specifi-
cations under this charge were cited his desire that the South-
ern States should be allowed to depart in peace, and his peace
negotiations with Saunders. The second reason given was :
" Mr. Greeley's political associations and intimacies are so bad
that we can expect nothing from him, in case, to his own mis-
fortune and ours, he should be elected, but a corrupt

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 89

administration of affairs." The principal specification named
in this connection was his association with Senator Fenton.
The third allegation set forth was: "Mr. Greeley has no
settled political principles, with one exception. . . . He
is a thorough-going bigoted protectionist, a champion of one
of the most arbitrary and grinding systems of monopoly ever
known in any country."

Mr. Bryant's personal objection to Mr. Greeley was very
strong. He did not class him even in the list of gentlemen.
His reference to this was thus stated in the editorial referred
to : " The last objection to Mr. Greeley which we shall here
mention is the grossness of his manners. General Grant is
sometimes complained of as not filling the Executive Chamber
with the decorum and dignity which properly belongs to the
place ; . . . but he is never bearish or brutal, as Mr.
Greeley so often is."

The managing editor of the paper at that time was Sidney
Howard Gay, who had occupied a similar position under Mr.
Greeley, and had no liking for his former chief The editorial
page was principally in Mr. Gay's charge during that year's
political campaign, and he took no unimportant part in the
attacks on the Liberal-Democratic candidate, which ended in
his so disastrous defeat.

There was a very interesting struggle, inside and out,
over the position which the Kvening Post should take in the
Hayes-Tilden campaign of 1S76. The paper had been an
earnest and able advocate of the resumption of specie pay-
ments ever since that question had become a practical one,
Parke Godwin lending his energetic pen to the discussion
with frequency. A Republican Congress had passed a re-
sumption act, naming a day when resumption should take
place ; but the subsequent Congresses had been criticised for
failing to make that act effective, and the platform adopted bv
the Republican Convention which had nominated Haves was
not considered vigorous in dealing with this subject. Mr.

9°

THE EVENING POST

Bryant had long been a personal friend of Tilden, and ad-
mired the part which he had taken in the overthrow of the
Tammany ring and the exposure of the State Canal ring.
The paper, too, had drifted into something like open opposi-
tion to the Republican Administration at Washington. The
use of United States troops in connection with the political

BROAD STREET IN 1-96
(From ^^alencine's IVTanual)

troubles in Louisiana had caused intense feeling in January,
1875. In New York city this teeling took shape in the
calling of a mass-meeting in Cooper Union on January ii,
to protest against such use ot the Federal forces. Although
such Democrats as Manton Marble and August Belmont
took part in this gathering, every eftort was made to give it
an independent character, and Mr. Bryant and William M.
Evarts were among the speakers. In the following month

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY

9'

President Grant astonished even radical Republicans by his
proclamation asking tor the reinstatement of the Broolvs
Government in Arkansas. Two Senatorial elections that
winter gave the Independents in the Republican party some

»?^^

THE BATTERY IN iSoo
(From 'The New Meti-opolis.' Copyright by D, Appleton & Co

courage, namely, the defeat ot Chandler in Michigan and of
Carpenter in Wisconsin, although the latter had secured in
his favor a renomination by the Republican legislative caucus.
During all the year T875 ^^^- I'ilden's prominence as a
candidate for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency

92 THE EVENING POST

was maintained, and he himself was too practical a politician
not to value at its true worth such support as that ot the
independent Evening Post. More than one effort was made
to have it appear that Tiiden's nomination would gain the
support ot the Kvening Post for the Democratic ticket, and
in b'ebruary the newspapers printed a story to the effect that
Mr. Brvant, during a recent visit in Albany, had toasted
Mr. Tilden as the next Democratic candidate. Mr. Br\ant
explained m the office that he had simplv said that TiJden
would be a good man tor the candidacy. At that time many
persons believed that Grant would be nominated again in
1876. Had he been the Republican candidate then, the
Kvening Post doubtless would have supported his opponent.

The State elections in the autumn of 1875 showed that
the tinancial question would come to the front in the follow-
ing year. The Ohio Democrats set the pace with an infla-
tion platform, and the Pennsylvania Democrats followed
their lead. Hayes's election in Ohio secured tor him the
''iepublican nomination tor the Presidency The position of
the Evening Post during the previous tall and winter months
was not clearly defined. I he office torce believed that the
Democratic party would otter nothing satistactorv as regards
the currency question, and that a tone should be maintained
which would render it consistent tor the paper to support a
good Republican candidate on a sound plattorm. I find the
tollowing in my diar\' covering that period : " The Evening
Post is in a very unsatistactory position on the State and cit\-
political question. Mr. Brvant is the object ot ad\'ice trom
this man and that. Sitting in his house uptown, and keeping
entirely outside ot the current ot political news and its bear-
ings, except as he reads it in one or two newspapers, he is
easily influenced, and sends do\vn word that this or that is to
be, or not to be, said."

But the political outlook at that time was \'ery uncertain.
Conkling and Morton were actual possibilities as the Repub-

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 93

lican candidates ; Bristow, by the following May, when the
Fifth Avenue Hotel conference was held, was a possibility in
the view of the Independent element, and it was not yet
certain whether Tammany could defeat Tilden's nomination
or, it he should be nominated, on what kind of a financial plank
he would be placed, l^he result of the national conventions
was the nomination of Hayes by the Republicans on a plat-
form that was fairly satisfactory to the sound-money men,
and of Tilden on a platform which denounced the resumption
clause of the act of 1875 and demanded its repeal "as a
hindrance " to resumption. Of the result at Cincinnati the
Kvening Post on June 17 said: "The nomination of Ha\'es
and Wheeler elevates and purifies the canvas beyond what
could have been expected under any of the politicians of the
Administration."

The Democratic currency plan was a hard pill for any
sound-money Independent to swallow. The New York
World, then influential as the Democratic organ in this city,
had told the Democratic Congressional caucus m the previous
March : "' If the caucus decides to recommend the repeal of
this promise [to resume] , there is no tongue so persuasive as
to induce the people to believe the Democratic party sincere
in Its demand for resumption." An effort was necessary to
reconcile the demand for repeal with a zeal for actual resump-
tion. Mr. Tilden made such an effort in his letter of accept-
ance, saying : " It cannof be doubted that the substitution of
' a system of preparation ' without the promise of a day for
the worthless promise of a day 'without a svstem of prepara-
tion ' would be the gain of the substance of resumption in
exchange for its shadow."

Powerful influence was brought to bear on Mr. Br\'ant,
as soon as the nomination was made, to have his paper sup-
port the Democratic ticket. But it did not succeed. An
editorial on the nomination, printed on June 29, waved aside
all personalities in the campaign (Mr. l^ilden's personal

9+ THE EVENING POST

character and some of his financial dealings were attacked at
once in the Republican press), and rejoiced over the defeat of
Tammanv at St. Louis, but said that, in the demand tor the
repeal of the resumption clause, the Democratic Con\-ention
had taken " a step backward," adding, " It demands the naked
repeal ot the pledge to resume in 1879, and that is the only
positi\'e fibre in the plank. . . . Already the people
have no faith whatever in the sincerity ot the Democratic
demand ot resumption. Mr. Tilden is reported to have said
last night, ' We made a good fight in the Convention on the
money plank, and we succeeded there.' This must be a
mistake. Such a hard-money man as Tilden must tcel rather
mortified that he is compelled to stand upon such a sott piece
of timber." From that time the Evening Post continued to
support the Republican candidate on the Republican financial
platform, avoiding the personalities which marked the progress
ot the campaign. I find the following in mv diary under date
ot September 13, 1876 : " iVluch curiosity has been expressed
about the Post's position by persons who knew Mr. Bryant's
personal admiration tor Tilden. Mr. Bryant has recently
written a private letter, saying that he tavors Hayes's election
because he does not trust the party which supports Tilden.
We have tried to have this published, but Mr. Br\ ant
objects. He also writes the managing editor from Massa-
chusetts, where he has been tor se\'eral \^eeks, that he thinks
the Post is fairly and ably conducted."

The actual parting ot the ways which was threatened in
in 1872 came in 1884, when the paper supported Cle\-eland
against Blaine. The ending of that campaign gave an inter-
esting illustration of the influence ot an honestly conducted
newspaper in times ot political excitement. The returns on
the morning after election left the result somewhat in doubt,
with a certainty that if Cleveland had carried New I'ork State
he was elected. The Associated Press at once began announc-
ing the probable result in that State as indicated by a system

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 95

of averages of returns by election districts, saving: " So many
election districts indicate so and so ; if tliis ratio is maintained,
the Republicans have carried the State by so and so." This
system was eagerly accepted by the Blaine press, and the ex-
citement was maintained for several days.

The Evening Post headed its returns the day after the
election : " Cleveland Probably Elected," and printed a table
giving 213 electoral votes to Cleveland, I2'2 to Blaine, and
leaving 66 doubtful. Dispatches were then sent to every
disputed county in the State, asking for the most complete
and trustworthy returns ot the vote in those counties. In
this way the paper was enabled to head its returns the follow-
ing afternoon : " Cleveland President — New York Gives Him
Her Vote." Its table ot the electoral votes gave Cleveland
219, Blaine 150, and left 32 in the doubtful list. As late as
noon of the following day the Associated Press sent out a
statement ot returns of " missing districts " with this state-
ment: "If the press footings are correct, and those ot the
county clerks incorrect, the Republican plurality will be nearly
1,000 in the State." As an indication of the confusion pro-
duced by the press returns, I may mention that an acc|Liaint-
ance holding a responsible position in a Blaine newspa]ier
office called at my desk one ot those days and said: " '] ell
me what the actual election returns show. I cannot find out
in our office."

The editorial and publication rooms ot the Evening Post
were moved to their present location in the summer ot 1875.
Mr. Bryant's friends thought that he was too old to invest
his money in the new building, and that structure was erected
by Isaac Henderson, Mr. Bryant's partner in the ownership
of the newspaper. Mr. Bryant, even m his older days, was
a great walker, scorning to use a hack to ride trom the Long
Island ferry to the office when he came in trom Rosslyn, and
generally walking from the office to his house in Sixteenth
Street when he was in the city. When we moved into the

96 THE EVENING POST

new building he liked to show his independence of the elevator
by walking all the way up to the ninth story. Finding one
of the associate editors waiting for the elevator one morning,
Mr. Bryant asked, " Do you ever walk up?" The much
younger editor compromised in his reply by saving with
much confidence, " I often walk do%vn!'

Every department of the newspaper has grown enormouslv
since 1871, and it a comparison were made with the amount
of reading matter furnished m any one week now and then,
the publisher ot to-dav would probably wonder how his pre-
decessor of thirty \'ears ago induced anv one to bu\' the
paper.

As I look back over all these years I recall no disturbing
element among the personal relationships ot the editors. As
an editor-in-chiet, Mr. Bryant did not take active personal
supervision, and he brought himselt very little in contact with
the editorial corps. He had very strict ideas about pure
English, and wanted his somewhat tamous Index Expurga-
torius strictly observed. The various managing editors whom
I worked under with him — Charlton T. Lewis, Sidney How-
ard Gav, Albert G. Brown, and Watson R. Sperry — were ot
course gentlemen ot education and refinement. The radical
change in ownership ot 1881 gave me new acquaintances —
Mr. Godkin, Mr. White, and Mr. Schurz — but under them
the delighttul personal relations ot the past were always main-
tained, and when I myself, in the spring of IQOO, tound it
necessarv to release mvself from the exactions ot otfice duties,
I had the pleasure of knowing that I had lett a triend in
every one ot my associates.

Staff Reminiscences — 1 1.

By Jo/ni Kanken Towse, I^ramatic Critic and Former

City Editor

IN the gradual development of New York journalism
during the last quarter of a century there is, perhaps, no
more striking tact — at all events to the professional
mind — than the gradual substitution of the evening for the
morning paper as the chief purveyor of news, the reference
being not only to local and domestic intelligence, but to a
maiorit\' of the most important occurrences in all parts of the
civilized world. The explanation of it, of course, is exceed-
ingly simple, being found m the enormous nudtiplication in
all directions of the facilities tor the collection and prompt
transmission of every item affecting public or private interests,
and the accident of geographical position, which, owing to
differences of longitude, enables the afternoon paper here to
report the happenings of most of the waking, that is to say,
the busiest hours of Europe. So far as the eastern hemi-
sphere is concerned, the New York morning paper has a
monopoly only of the not very fruitful news period between
lo P.M. and 6 A.M.

The conditions were altogether difl-erent thirty-one years
ago, when I first knew the Evening Post. The telegraphic
service, even between the great cities, was in its comparative
infancy ; telephones had not yet begun to disturb the dreams
of inventors, and the transatlantic cable was an expensive
luxury, which was used as sparingly as possible. On ordinary

98 THE EVENING POST

days the total amount of news copy received from all sources
was less than that which is now delivered every half-hour.
The office was then in the old and rather rickety building at
the northwest corner of Liberty and Nassau Streets. 'I'he
publication department was on the first floor, the editorial
rooms — five in number, and not very large at that — were on
the third floor with the composing-room; a job-printing de-
partment was overhead, and the newspaper presses were in
the basement. In the composing-room were about twenty-
five hands, a force deemed amply sufficient to set up the
advertisements and all the other matter for the unwieldy
four-page blanket sheet which was then published. This
alone will give an idea, to the initiated, of the amount of news
matter that reached the desk of the cop\-cutter. By com-
parison the editorial force was large. At the head of it, of
course, was William Cullen Bryant, with Charles Nordhoff
as his right-hand man, general executive officer, and leader
writer. Other editorial writers were Charlton T. Lewis, John
R. Thompson, the literary editor, and one or two others, who
need not be specified, as this was a period of change. Mr.
Parke Godwin, at this particular time, was an infrequent con-
tributor to the paper, although closely identified with it
earlier, and again for many ^ears later on. Dr. A. C. Wilder,
who IS still living at an advanced age, was political corre-
spondent at Albany, and, when the Legislature was not in
session, exercised some sort of supervision over local political
news, and William Francis Williams attended to musical,
dramatic, and artistic affairs. Augustus Maverick, whose
later fate was tragic, had charge of the telegraphic desk, and
there was a city editor, with a single reportorial assistant to
look after the local news, most of which was furnished by one
of two rival news associations, both of which long ago perished
of inanition, complicated with incompetency. Of the outside
force, the most notable figure was the financial editor, the late
Newton F. Whiting, a man of remarkable ability, great

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 99

energy, acute judgment, and inflexible character, whose pre-
mature death was not only a source of profound grief to his
immediate associates, but called forth a rare tribute of respect
from the magnates of Wall Street.

In the light of modern developments, the news service of
that not very remote day was shockingly devoid of initiative,
enterprise, or imagination. Jt was conducted in narrow ruts,
but it had the conspicuous merit of being fairly accurate.
Much importance was attached to facts, but space was precious,
composition slow, and the current arts of decorative lying
were severely discouraged. The Herald's yarn about the
escape of all the wild beasts in Central Park was regarded as
a masterpiece of audacity, almost equal to the famous moon
hoax. People were so unsophisticated as to discuss its
morality. A story that would fill three or four pages to-day
was dismissed in as many columns. No more was given to
the Nathan murder, whose ghastly details set the whole city
shuddering. Possibly, everything looked smaller then, when
the dire tragedies of the civil war were still fresh in all men's
memories. At all events, the sense of proportion was mani-
fested in reporting, possibly because there was no great un-
attached bodv of special writers, devourers of space, who
could be procured at a moment's notice. It was only when
there was some topic of overpowering public interest, such as a
Black Friday crash in Wall Street, or the political earthquake
which shattered the Tweed ring, that repetition and padding
were tolerated to an unlimited extent. The "special article,"
except on some special occasion, was seldom seen, except in
the Sunday editions, and the province of the magazines was
still uninvaded. Interviews, except on financial or political
topics, were rare, and the discussion of matters of minor
interest was left largely to the occasional, and unpaid, corre-
spondent. Routine ruled. Each paper had a man, or a part
of a man, at the City Hall, to gather the dry details, which
were published afterwards in the City Record, and another at

THE EVENING POST

Police Headquarters, where was a reportorial cabal, or Trust —
contemptible, but potent anci by no means unskilful — to keep
the news from journalistic rivals and further certain dark and
paltry interests, personal and political. The reporter who
was out of it, dependent solely upon the unilluminative police
" returns," had a very hard road to travel. Delayed intorma-

N. y. VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT, 1S40
(From \'alentine's Manual)

tion was a serious matter betore distance was annihilated by
the telephone, and horse-cars, as a rule, the only means ot
transit. The police courts and the law courts were co\xred,
after a fashion, by the news associations, and sometimes very
noteworthy feats in long-hand manifold reporting were accom-
plished, notably by Mr. Johns, a one-legged veteran ot the
war, and a trained law\'er, who has never been excelled, it ever
etjualled, for rapidity and accin-acy.

Another center of information was the Coroners' office, a

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY

very hotbed of political abominations, the fair haven of Tam-
many heelers. A huge ruffian, known as " Soger Flynn,"
was one of the presiding geniuses, and he and his bodyguard,
including the notorious " Dick " Enwright, and others, long
since gone to their account, were the heroes of the First Ward
toughs. All the work was done by deputies, while the
Coroners heaped up fraudulent fees, revelled, like Anthony,
late o' nights, and grew rich, even after paying their contribu-
tions to the Tammany coi^-ers. The news of Brooklyn,
except when some great event was impending — as, for instance,
a combined hunt by police and military for illicit stills in the
navy-yard district — was furnished by some of the local re-
porters, and there were similar arrangements for Jersev City
and Newark, Long Island City, and a tew other points. For
many years, the veteran J. G. Towndrow, not very long dead,
personally collected and retailed all the news ot Westchester
County. It was only with the extension of the local telegraph
service that a thorough system ot suburban reporting; was
gradually developed.

In the early days ot my apprenticeship Charles Nordhotf,
following, ot course, the general directions of Mr. Bryant,
was the active manager of the paper. He was then in the
very prune ot life, and his well-knit, active fio;ure, his keen
eyes glittering through spectacles, and his brusque, authorita-
tive speech, constituted a striking personalit\'. He was a
quick-tempered, emphatic, but thoroughly just and kindly
man, intolerant only ot subterfuge or meanness. There was
much ot the sailor in his tree and easy manner and his quick
decision. He was an inveterate smoker of big and strong
cigars, which he held in the center ot his mouth, and as he
wrote — with characteristic, unhesitating energy — he used to
envelop himselt in such clouds that it was a mar\'el some-
times how he could see either pen or paper. His unatfected
simplicity, his conspicuous honesty, and his sense of humor
more than atoned for his occasional hastiness, and when he

THE EVENING POST

left the office, he carried with him the hearty good will of all
his subordinates. Mr. Bryant was a man who commanded
respect rather than affection. Studiously courteous in all his
communications with the juniors ot his staff, he vet conveyed
the impression of being cold and distant. In his address, as
in his writing, he was a precisian. He prided himself, and
with reason, upon his remarkable preservation of his physical
powers. Long after he had passed the Scriptural limit of
three score years and ten, he could run up stairs with the light
step of youth, and it was onh' in his latest da\-s that his
eyesight became impaired. His handwriting was minute and
beautifully clear and firm, and he had a curious thrifty habit
of utilizing old scraps ot paper tor editorial purposes. I
received a note from him written on the flap of an envelope
a few minutes before he left the office on the day of his fatal
seizure. Possibly they were the last words he ever penned,
but 1 threw them into the waste-basket after reading them,
and so lost an interesting autograph. Dignified as he was,
he coidd unbend upon occasion. I remember once seeing
him seize the lintel of the door leading into his room and
raise and lower himself several times by the arms to show the
good condition in which he kept himself bv constant exercise.
One of his occasional visitors was Peter Cooper, and as they
talked together, they presented a striking illustration ot
healthy old age.

In strong and painful contrast with this hoary ^dgor was
the fragile figure of John R. Thompson, a man still in early
middle life, but in the last stages ot consumption. He fought
his merciless malady with cheery patience and indomitable
courage, sticking to his post until he was almost in extremis.
He seemed rather to resent the popularity ot his ' Carcassonne,'
not because he did not think well ot it, but because it mo-
nopolized the attention which he thought ought to be bestowed
upon some of his other poetical pieces. Another person who
played an important part in the internal economy of the office

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY

103

in those days was the foreman of the composing-room, Mr.
Dithmar, who possessed considerable learnmg, a masterful
temper, and marked executive ability. Proficient in several
modern languages, he was a frequent contributor, principally
of translated articles, and his large fund of general informa-
tion and strong common sense made him a valuable counsellor.
He retired from the office alter lone service to become United
States Consul at Breslau.

Death has carried off many of the habitual frequenters of
those dingy old rooms, but some still survive. Among them
are Dr. Field, formerly ot the Evangelist, Du Chaillu, of
gorilla tame, Bronson Howard, who was an editorial writer in
the first days ot his success with " Saratoga," Carl Schurz,
Charlton T. Lewis, the Rev. Dr. Gallaudet, and a dwindling
handtul ot Evening Post men. Thirtv \ears is a long time.

Three Veteran Employees

Meti Who Have Given Long ayid Faithful Service to
The Evening Post

Morris Van Vliet

THE superintendent of the Evening Post composine;-
room, which includes the stereot\'ping and proot-
reading departments, IVlorris Van Vliet, was born in
Saratoga Springs in 1839, and after a taste of farm Hfe as a
bov began his apprenticeship as a printer in 1853 in the office
ot the Wa\'ne Sentinel, ot Palmyra, N. Y. Atter working as
jOLirnevman m several Western cities, he enlisted and ser\'ed
two years in the Third New York Volunteer Infantry, Com-
pany ¥,. His service ended, Mr. Van Vliet entered the well-
known office of Weed, Parsons & Co., in Albany, N. Y.,
going trom there to the Corning (N. Y.) Journal as foreman.
He served m the same capacity the Rochester Democrat
(1871-78) and the Elmira Advertiser. In 1883 he took
charge ot the Evening Post composing-room. Mr. \'an
Vliet's son, Edward, is assistant superintendent of the com-
posing-room, under his father.

During Mr. \"an \'liet's connection with the E\'ening
Post the revolutions effected by the stereotyping process and
the linotype machines have been accomplished. The mechan-
ical staff of the P'.vening Post is noted among printers as the
most competent in the country. It comprises a number of
men whose term of service exceeds thirtv years, two men who
are approaching their half-centur\' mark, and one man, Mr.
Robert Da\-is, who has been sixty years in the office. For
character and skill there is no better body of men in the busi-
ness than the mechanical staff of the Evening Post.

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY

105

/

They not only represent the best type of the intelhgent,
self-rehant American workman, but are fortunate in being free
from any labor-union tyranny. The Evening Post office was
for years the only non-
union one in New York
city. Every man in the
composing-room is there
because of his manifest
fitness, and not because
he is carried on the rolls
of a union.

Mr. Van V'liet took
charge ot the Evening
Post immediatelv atter
the strike which resulted
in the ousting ot Typo-
graphical Union No. 6,
and under his manage-
ment the office has
steadilv progressed in
such a manner as to
make Mr. Van Vliet pre-
eminent in his occupa-
tion, and known far be-
yond the limits ot New
York city. In addition,
he has the warm regard
of every man and boy connected with the Evening Post, which
he has earned by his long and remarkably taithtul service.

MORRIS VAN VLIET

Superintendenr ot the Evening FosC Ci>m[iosinL;-roi>m

John Young

The foreman of the Evening Post press-room, John
Young, has seen nearly forty years in this newspaper's

io6

THE EVENING POST

employ. Mr. Young was born in New York in 1839, and
is still in the prime of life. His apprenticeship was served in
the Sun office, whence he came to the Evening Post in 1862.
In 1875, when the move was made from Liberty Street to

Broadway, he was made
foreman of the press-
room. Mr. Young's ex-
perience in the Evening
Post office covers the
revolution effected in the
press-room bv the intro-
duction of stereotyping
and the web press. In
1875 ^^^ paper was print-

ed upon the eight-
der press, a monumental
affair, nearly twice as big
as the present presses
used. It recjuired eight
men and tour bovs to
work, besides another
machine to do the fold-
ing. It printed 10,000
copies an hour of the old
four-page blanket sheet,
equivalent to the same
number of our present eight-page papers. The modern web
presses now in use, with the aid of four men and one bov
each, print and fold 48,000 copies of the paper in one hour.

JOHN YOUNG

Foreman of the Press-Room

Robert Davis

The oldest employee upon the Evening Post in point of
service is Mr. Robert Davis, for many years assistant foreman

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY

107

of the composing-room, who has spent sixty years of con-
tinuous work upon the paper. He entered the office as a boy
of thirteen and is now in his seventy-third year. He has
known no other employer, and, until the last few years or
upon extraordinary occasions, has never been absent from
office in business hours. While he now spends but half a
day in the composing-
room, leaving the office
at noon, Mr. Davis is
still hale and hearty, a
man of kindly nature, re-
spected and trusted by all
who know him. One ot
his sons and a grandson
are now employed upon
the Evening Post.

In talking over his
life, Mr. Davis said : " I
was a New York boy,
born November 26, i 828,
in Hester Street, which
was then quite a respect-
able place. When I was
thirteen I entered Mr.
Bryant's employ as an
apprentice in the press-
room of the Evening Post. I was the ' fly-boy.' The paper
was printed on a cylinder press worked by a man who turned
a crank. The fly-boy took off each printed sheet from the
press. So far as I can remember, we went to press about two
o'clock. After the edition was worked off we apprentices had
to deliver the papers. My route took me through Wall
Street. The Evening Post office was then at No. 27 Pine Street.

" The composing-room, into which I was graduated some-
where about 1845, had a force of not more than ten men, but

ROBERT DAVIS

The Oldest Employee of the Evening Post

io8

TH E EVENING POST

the amount ot typesetting done for the daily papers then was
insignificant as compared to later years. Most of our adver-
tisements remained standing for months without a change.
Everything was done in leisurely fashion. The rush and
hurry ot recent years, due to Wall Street, was still unknown.
Work began at seven A.M. and stopped at six, with an hour
tor dinner. When I had a day off I used to walk out into the

fields beyond Fourteenth
Street. The city stopped
there. When I delivered
papers Wall Street had
still a number ot private
houses. I can remember
well the large church that
stood in Wall Street, be-
tween Nassau and Broad-
way, opposite N ew.
Benedict's jewelr\' and
clock store stood at the
corner of New and Wall.
"During my life I
have seen the candles dis-
placed bv gas and the
gas bv electricitw The
teleo;raph, telephone, the
web presses, printing trom a roll ot paper, stereotvping, the
linotype machines that enable one compositor to do the work
of five men at the case — all these changes in the making ot a
newspaper have been accomplished in mv day. I sometimes
wonder whether my grandson, when he comes to give an
account of his sixtv years upon the Evening Post, will have
any such revolutions to review."

-^.1|K*-J1*M« "^

BOGERT'S BAKERY

Broadway and Cortlandt Street, 1801. (Present site
ot" Benedict Building)

THE LUNCHEON.

In connection with the centennial of the Evening Post,
the trustees of the New York Evening Post Company re-
ceived and accepted the following invitation :

"New York, October 28, 1901.

"Wendell Phillips Garrison, Esq., Secretary The Evening Post and
Nation.

"Dear Sir: We learn that the Evening Post is preparing November 16th
next to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of its existence and
progress, and is making preparation therefor by publishing an extraordinarv
issue of the paper, for the benefit and enjoyment ot its patrons and of the
community.

" We think that, in view of the record of the Evening Post, it is fitting
that there should be some reciprocal action on the part of the communitv, in
recognition of so interesting an event.

"Desiring to give some expression of our appreciation of the zeal and
efforts of the Evening Post in the interest of good government and good citizen-
ship, its maintenance in journalism ot high moral and literary ideals, we beg
to invite the gentlemen in the management of the Evening Post, its editorial
stafi^ and officers, to a complimentary luncheon, to be given November i6th
inst. at 1:30 P. M., at the Equitable Library Dining-Room, No. 120
Broadway.

"Hoping to receive a favorable response to this invitation, we have the
honor to remain, with great respect,

" Yours,

" Abram S. Hewitt, John G. Carlisle, Charles S. Fairchild, John A.
Stewart, Levi P. Morton, Daniel S. Lamont, J. Pierpont Morgan, Andrew
Carnegie, James J. Hill, William B. Hornblower, Wager Swayne, Stewart L.
Woodford, John S. Kennedy, William E. Dodge, Francis Lynde Stetson,
James W. Alexander, D. O. Mills, Robert C. Ogden, John E. Parsons, John
A. McCall, William J. Curtis, George G. Williams, James Speyer, Richard
A. McCurdy, Joseph C. Hendrix, Wheeler H. Peckham, Franklin H. Gid-
dings, Oakleigh Thorne, Edward L. Burlingame, William Nelson Cromwell,

oore.

no THE EVENING POST

A. P. Hepburn, Charles H. Raymond, George F. Crane, |ohn Bassett Moc.^,
James T. Woodward, George W. Young, John Crosby Brown, Charles
Scribner, John J. M'Cook, Edmund Clarence Stedman, R. R. Bowker,
George L. Rives, John Devvitt Warner, Morris K. [esup, Frank J. Mather,
Hamilton W, Mabie, George Haven Putnam, [ames H. Hvde, E. M. Grout,
Charlton T. Lewis, Robert A. Granniss, F. D. Tappen, Frederic Cromwell,
James McKeen, S. D. Babcock, Samuel Thorne, Gustav H. Schwab, Alex-
ander E. Orr, James H. Canlield, James Grant Wilson, Gustav Pollak,
Charles Stewart Smith, Nelson Ta)dor, George A. Plimpton, James C. Carter,
Robert Bridges, Charles A. Schieren, J. Armory Haskell, Hector C. Tindale,
Frank H. Dodd, Everett P. Wheeler, Russell Sturgis, J. S. Billings, Edward
Cooper, Anson Phelps Stokes, William W. Appleton, Gage E. Tarbell,
William H. Mclntyre, Richard Watson Gilder, Edward M. Shepard,
Vernon H. Brown, Frederick F. Cook, James D. Hague, Fabian Franklin,
Austen G. Fox, Chauncev Depew, William H. Baldwin, Jr., Thomas L.
Greene, Silas B. Browned, Robert W. De Forest, Edward Winslow."

At the request of the hosts at the luncheon, the Evening
Post printed the details in tuU.

The presiding officer was the Hon. Abram S. Hewitt,
who opened the tormal proceedings with the following words :

"The gates ot Heaven having been temporarily opened to allow the
angels [the ladies had just entered] to pass out and pass in [applause], I proceed
to perform a duty which has fallen to my lot — how, I know not, and why, I
cannot tell. This tribute of affection and admiration for an institution is some-
thing unprecedented in this city, and I think perhaps in the world. It is due
to a spontaneous expression that no man organized and no man has formulated.
When it was suggested to me that I should sign an invitation to the editorial
staff ot the Evening Post to receive from their hosts an expression ot their love
and affection, I confess it seemed to me as it a patent of nobility had been con-
ferred upon me. [Applause.] And so it must be with ever\' gentleman wdio
has received the honor of being permitted to be a host on this occasion. It
seems to me that every one among them feels that he has a better tide to immor-
tality by reason of the fact that the Evening Post has survived to celebrate, or
have celebrated for it, its one hundredth anniversary. [Applause.]

"I do not think that any of us have realized how large a part ot our
daily life, of our domestic happiness, has been due to the existence ot this
remarkable journal. I have known it personally for more than sixt\' ^'ears. I
was not conscious that the Evening Post had, 1 am sorry to say, somewhat
usurped the place of the Bible in mv daih' studies, but perhaps there is this

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY

justification, that the Bible does not profess to be superior [laughter]', \vhereas
the Evening Post comes to us daily in the attitude of an authorit\- which we
are bound to respect, and, if we can, to obey. [Laughter.]

" I know that this assemblage is chiefly made up of the friends of the
Evening Post, and the reason I know it is this, that when I look in your faces,
I see that every man here has, at one time or another in the course of his
career, received its friendly chastisement. [Laughter and applause.] Whom
the Evening Post loyeth it chasteneth. [Laughter.] This attitude of su-
periority was modestlv disclaimed by the original founder of the Evening Post.
He said that he made no claims to infallibihty. He did not know what he
was saying. He could not look forward to one hundred years of such editorial
work as the Evening Post has received at the hands of Coleman, Bryant, Leg-
gett and Godkin, and now in the hands of our good friend, Mr. White.
[Applause.] It ever there were a body ot men who had an\" right to the
claim oi intallibility, sureh' it is the gentlemen whom I have named, and that
fact will be recognized by every inhabitant of the cit\' of New York. [Ap-
plause.]

"But a paper so constituted could not have existed one hundred years it
there had not been an audience ot superior persons who received its admoni-
tions and sustained it in its career ot independent criticism. Hence, looking
around, J think I can sav that this audience represents — and I think I can say
it without yanit\" — it represents the best elements of this great citv. [Ap-
plause,] Yes, we are permitted to belong to a mutual admiration society, for
there is not one ot us who has not in the course of the last thirty or fortv
years had occasion to bolt trom his party. We are the off horses of this great
city, and we know it, and we are proud ot it, and the Evening Post has been
our prophet. [Applause.]

" Now I am admonished, not only by mv own ph\sical condition, but
by the fact that there is a long list of speakers whom you wish to hear, that
my own remarks must come to a termination. My triend Carnegie, who
seems to have disappeared [he was sitting behind the speaker] , reminded me
when I saw him of a song I heard in the Highlands of Scotland. J went to
what thev call a cake-and-wine testival, and it was a rather dreary affair; hut
at length some one was asked to sing, and he sang a Highland song that I
never heard before, and have never heard since, and never want to hear again.
[Laughter.] But there was one line in it that constantly recurred. I see my
friend Kennedy knows what is coming — one line which always came up :

' Mic, Mac, Methuselaii, is a very superior person.'

Now I think that expresses more clearlv than anything I can sav of the
Evening Post, in whose honor we have met here to-day. Mic, Mac, Methu-
selah, one hundred years — tor the Post is a verv superior person. And I say

THE E VENI NG POST

that with the full knowledge that persons in the individual sense grow old and
untortunately have to pass away; but we are here to congratulate the Post, not
on having grown old, but on having grown young and vounger and younger
every day since we have known it, until now, having passed hv all the perils
of infancy and all the trials of a rather lusty and rapid bovhood, it stands
before us in the maturity of its powers, with the greatest possibilities of useful-
ness in the future, which other newspapers may envy, hut none can ever hope
to rival.

"Those of the gentlemen present into whose hands the custody of this
great — I was going to sav propertv, but I will not use the word — into whose
hands this great responsibilifi- has fallen (tor it is a tremendous responsibility
to occupy the position of the Post in this country, with its record on the side
of truth and justice and public order and sound government), must keep the
standard high. The banner which was raised by William Coleman, which
was sustained by William C. Bryant, which has had the cooperative aid of
Godkin and Bigelow and Leggett — above all, has been held aloft by the hands
of these gentlemen — must never be allowed to trail on the ground, so tfiat
when our posterity come together a hundred years hence they may sa\', ' Vou
are worthy sons of worthy sires; you have brought no disgrace upon the struc-
ture they built up, which has commanded the admiration not only of this, but
of ever\- countr^■ in the world where truth and justice and liberty are loved.'
These gentlemen ma\" pass their responsibility to their successors with the proud
consciousness that the\' live in a community and country where every good
deed, every noble thought, every inspiration of honor is recognized, and the
spontaneous tribute of admiration will be brought to them and their successors
as it is now brought to the altar of the men who founded and have conducted
the Evening Post to this dav. [Applause.]

" Gentlemen, in behalf of the hosts who are here assembled I give you
the toast: Congratulations to the Evening Post on its vigorous majority at the
age of lOO, support in every good work which it may hereafter undertake, and
the certainty that the Evening Post will continue to be, in the future as in the
past, the bulwark of order, liberty, truth, and justice.

" J call upon Mr. Horace White to respond for the Evening Post."

Mr. White said i?i response :

"Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: When my associates and myself heard
that a movement was on foot in the highest professional and business circles of
New York to do honor to the Evening Post on the occasion of its hundredth
anniversary, we were equally surprised and gratified. We realized that such a
tribute was an expression of vour approval of the general character and history
of the journal which is temporariK- in our charge. We knew that it was a

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 113

testimonial of your regard tor tlie illustrious men who have preceded us, and
that we share in it only because, in your opinion, we haye been true to their
ideals and to the principles ot journalism which they espoused. Coleman,
Br\ant, Leggett, Bigelovy, Godwin, Schurz, and Godkin sought, first of all
things, the public good, as they understood it. It is not given to all men to
be as brilliant with the pen as they, but others can be as true as they to public
interests. What the Evening Post has been in the past you know, and vour
presence here testifies. All that I need to say of the future is that if we fail
to keep it at the level where its founders placed it, and where their successors
kept it during the whole of the nineteenth century, you, gendemen, will be
quick to discern the change, and we shall forfeit \'our confidence. That
will be our deserved and suiEcient punishment.

" Now I am far from supposing that you agree with all that the Evening
Post has said in the past. I know that mistakes have been made, and that I
have made mistakes. I am one of those who are willing, and glad, to correct
errors when convinced that they are errors. I am equally willing to change a
policy on concrete public questions when convinced that it is a wrong policy.
And in this particular my associates are of one mind with myself. I cannot
conceive of independent journalism on any other basis. Pride of opinion should
always yield to the dictates of reason and conscience. But in taking a survey
of journalism for fifty years, which my age enables me to do, I think that the
Evening Post has had as little need to alter its judgment on broad questions
of policy as any newspaper in the world.

" You may ask what I mean by independent journalism. That phrase
has more than one signification. It is sometimes used to signify mere neutrality
between political parties. A newspaper of this kind aims to offend neither
party, so that it may gain patronage from both. That is not independence.
An independent journal must offend both parties, and all parties, or must hold
itself ready to offend when they go wrong. A political party is composed of
men who have joined together for various reasons and purposes — some to pro-
mote public interests, others to get office, others to get jobs and to plunder the
taxpayers. There is a tendency in political parties to fall under the control
of the office-seekers and the jobbers and robbers, because they give all their
time to party management. Such a condition may exist while the mass of
the party is as upright as the twelve apostles. Indeed, the masses of all politi-
cal parties are upright. They are the public, and they seek the public wel-
fare. Most commonly, however, thev believe that their own party cannot go
wrong, or at any rate cannot go so wrong as the other party certainly will,
if it comes into power. This is party spirit. It has existed in all ages and
in all countries, and has by no means been restricted to the uneducated classes.
Even Dr. Johnson, in defining the word Whig in his dictionary, said that 'the
Devil was the first Whig. '

THE EVENING POST

" Now, it is the duty of an independent journal to tell the public what
the party leaders are doing, both when they are doing well and when they are
doing ill, and to point out the consequences of their acts. And here let me
read you a few words clipped from an old editorial of the Evening Post, which
I judge from its consummate st\le was written by mv predecessor, Mr.
Godkin:

" 'Nothing does more to diminish the influence of the press and to
enable even knaves to despise its criticisms than the too common editorial
practice of agreeing beforehand, in return for circulation, to eat everv dish,
however nauseous or injurious, a political convention may prepare. It is, ot
course, open to any man to decide for himself that he will, on grounds of
public safety or expediency, vote for a candidate who does not come up to his
standard either of integrity or capacity, provided he does it in silence, or, it he
defends it, defends it on true grounds. A public journal, however, can dis-
charge no duty in silence. Its function is to talk about what men are thinking
most about, and, above all, to furnish its readers with reasons for doing this or
leaving that undone. When a nomination is made, it has either to commend
or condemn it, and its first duty to its readers is to make its commendation or
condemnation sincere and truthful. This it cannot do if it be under any sort
of obligation to applaud the action of a party convention under all circum-
stances. This it must do if its applause is, in the long run, to be worth much.
A journal which is known to be ready to eat its own words, to make black
appear white, and white black, to recommend in the strongest terms tor the
highest office this year a man whom it last \ear described as unfit for even the
lowest, cannot render a party much service. Its opiinion can hardh' have anv
great influence on the fortunes of a canvass. Readers who seek from a news-
paper any assistance in forming a judgment on public affairs are generally among
the first to be disgusted by undisguised unscrupulousness, tergiversation, or
venality. '

" An independent journal, if it is true to its calling, will offend all polid-
cal parties by turn — will offend them more or less — but it will find compensa-
tion in the existence of a growing body of independent citizens, both men and
women. Independent citizenship may exist without an independent press, but
without that daily stimulus its growth will be slow and ils existence precarious.
Do you ask for an illustration of the value of independent citizenship ? No
more splendid one could be toimd than the recent municipal campaign in New
York, and I am not sure but the best part of it was the nomination of Edward
M. Shepard by Tammany Hall. There is such a thing as 'pandering to
decent public opinion,' but you may he sure that Tammany would never have
pandered in that way, and to that extent, if there had not been a great and
growing mass of independent citizenship in Ne\v York, to the growth of which
Mr. Shepard has himself so largely contributed.

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 115

" But independence of party is not tlie only marlc and sign of an inde-
pendent newspaper. The proximity of Wall Street leads me to sav that it
must be independent ot financial influences also. It must have no pecuniary
interest to warp its judgment, either in the stock market, or in the broader
public affairs which have to do with money. People who do business in Wall
Street are quick to detect in a newspaper the existence of a pecuniary influence.
They can judge pretty accurately whether the opinions it expresses in its
editorial columns are paid for or not. They can generally tell whether the
conductor of its financial columns is speculating or not. I know that if the
Evening Post were under any suspicions of this kind, no such testimonial as
the present could have taken place, and that the faces I see before me would
not be here.

"Independence ot Wall Street suggests independence ot cash in general.
A newspaper should be as independent ot its own counting-room as of other
people's. This is the severest test of independence, because the temptation to
swerve from it is ever present, and the forms of temptation are extremely in-
sidious and of almost infinite variety and shading; because, also, it frequentlv
happens that the ownership of the paper is not identical with the editorship.
The owner of a newspaper, if he is not the editor, will generally expect a cer-
tain amount of income from it, and will be apt to find fault with any manage-
ment of the columns which offends either subscribers or advertisers. I have
been in positions of editorial responsibility, here and elsewhere, tor thirty years,
and have never been obliged to argue a question ot ne^'spaper ethics with the
business manager. That has been m\' good fortune. But I know many
editors who have been, and are, daily subjected to that grind. Thev are not
free agents. Such a man works with a rope around his neck. The business
manager in such a case is not generally a bad fellow. He is not a tvrant or a
miser. He does not consciously go wrong. He sees things through glasses
different from those of the editor. It has been his calling, his training, his
trade, to look at the cash-box as the main thing in the newspaper, and very
often the same rope that is around the editor's neck is around his also.

"I allude to these things not for the purpose of blaming or fault-finding,
but to point out a tendency of the times. The tendency is tor newspapers,
especially the prosperous ones, to pass into the hands of men who look upon
them as money-making ventures merely — a condition not favorable to inde-
pendence, since independence is a faculty ot the brain, not of the pocket.
Yet there has been a counter-current running in the opposite direction all the
time, and it is certain that independent journalism has gained rather than lost
ground during the past quarter ot a century. The number of newspapers
which may be fairly classed as independent is greater now than at any other
time in our history, and the degree ot independence is higher now than ever
before. I believe, too, that tor every newspaper which passes under the

ii6 THE EVENING POST

domination of party power, or ot the money power, a new one will be found
to take its place in the ranks of the independent press. At all events, gentle-
men, vou can always have such newspapers as you prefer. There will always
be good papers and bad ones, and indifferent ones; there will always be indepen-
dent journals and party journals and yellow journals for you to choose from, and
vou will find that the independent ones are just as good newspapers as their com-
petitors in the same field. It is the condition of existence with the independent
press, as of every other kind, that it shall keep up with the procession. How-
ever wise, logical, moral, and high-toned a journal may be, unless it is abreast
of the times in the collection and arrangement of news, it will be a dead failure.
No human being will buv a dailv newspaper merelv because it has a fine his-
tory, or merely to keep it alive. I would not do so myself. The present
managers of the Evening Post realize that neither its past record nor its present
character will be of anv use to itself, or to the public, unless the paper is
worth the full price asked tor it.

" Now, m the name ot all who are associated together in the offices ot
the Evening Post, and of those still living who have been so associated in the
past, and ot those who have gone over to the majority, I give vou heartv
thanks for this unexpected demonstration of approval and good will — un-
paralleled, I think, in the annals of the American press."

At the close of Mr. White's address, Mr. Hewitt said :

" There is only one phrase which meets the case: Post hoc, ergo propter
hoc. Propter hoc is, however, on the other side of the East River, and is rep-
resented by a paper which is treading very close upon the heels of the Evening
Post in pomt of age, and has always thought itself a little more independent
and slightly superior to the Evening Post. Mr. McKelwav we all know — the
representative of the competing press. He will now express his opinions on
the subject."

Mr. McKelway replied :

"Mr. President and Friends : Mr. Hewitt has said that whom the Lord
loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth; and that
the Evening Post does the same. I wish to report from Scripture the result
of the policv on those subjected to it : ' No\v no chastening for the present
seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the
peaceable fruits of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby.'
[Laughter.]

" It is true that I do represent a paper on the other side of the East
River, but there the accuracy of Mr. Hewitt's statement ceases, and the liveli-
ness of his imagination and the lovableness of his heart begin. We have never

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 117

claimed to be superior to the Post. We knew, before newspapers were, the
penalty ot a too arrogant claim to superiority, which resulted in the writing of
' Paradise Lost. ' [Laughter.] We were content to follow afar off, not as
having attained, but as • would-be ' attainers, in the security of distance, under
the inspiration of example and by the encouragement of unity of motiye affected
by a relation to the inequality of ability on our part. [Applause.]

"It is a fact that the paper ot which I have the happiness and the honor
to be editor, the Eagle, not long ago passed and celebrated its sixtieth anni-
versary. The New York Evening Post to-dav celebrates its one hundredth
anniversar\'. Were age excellence, the claim of either paper to excellence
would be established. But age is only a term ot duration, and a relative term
at that. Sixty years stupid instead of sixt\' years old or sixty \'ears excellent,
could be affirmed of some institutions. A hundred years dull, instead of a
hundred )'ears old or a hundred years excellent, could be affirmed ot other in-
stitutions. In the newspaper business, however, age must signify something
more than mere or sheer duration. A printed thing that can live tor a hun-
dred years must indeed have life in it. A printed thing that cannot onl\' live
for a hundred years, but can appear in daily renewal all that time, must not
only have life in it, but must also have strength, a reason for being, a de-
mand for itself, a function, a purpose, a mission, a justification in the \vorld.
[Applause.]

" This is especially so \vith a daib' newspaper. There is no fortune on
earth that could stand the strain of a losing daily for a century. The fortune, if
enormously great, might not be exhausted bv such a strain, but it would be so
depleted, and the depletion would not only be so weakening, but so mortifying,
that three or tour generations ot the holders of such a fortune would get tired,
and they would stop carrying the load. I say this v\dth becoming caution
(turning to Mr. Carnegie) in the presence of monumental plutocracy contem-
poraneoush' ameliorated bv monumental philanthrop\'. [Loud applause.]
The mere fact that the Evening Post has lasted a hundred years is in itself a
proof of its excellence, of its power, ot the need ot it, and ot the field it found,
made, and increased for itself. Bv a paradox in journalism venerableness is
vigor, age is youth, to be old is to be young, the first is the weakest, the last
is the strongest, and the latest is the best. Histor\' in the case ot a newspaper
is not the taking on of decrepitude, with its pathetic or repulsive incidents. It
is the constant renewal of youth, the perpetual increase of strength, the per-
ennial increment of power, tacult\', usefulness, influence. [Applause.]

" Those who think that what is new and bad would be praised, were it old
and no better, and those who think what is old and good is praised only
because it is old, and not also because it is good, were rebuked by Dr. Samuel
Johnson in his Preface to his Shakespeare, in language with which I propose to
paralyze the ablest stenographers present. Said Dr. Johnson : ' That praises

THE EVENING POST

are without reason lavished on the dead, and that the honors due only to
excellence are paid to antiquity, is a complaint likel\- to be always continued
by those who, being able to add nothing to truth, hope for eminence from
the heresies ot parodox ; or those who, being forced by disappointment upon
consolatory expedients, are willing to hope from posterity what the present age
refuses, and flatter themselves that the regard, which is vet denied bv envy,
will be at last bestowed by time.' [Laughter and applause.]

" And this is not contradiction or sophistry or mvsterv. It is simply
due to logical causes. The newspaper is the monitor, the mirror, the
microcosm of its centur\-, of its half-century, of its quarter-century, of its
decade, ot its lustrum, of its year, of its month, of its day, of its hour. That
is why world, church, science, art, business, education, philanthropy, culture,
being more and meaning more now than thev were and meant before, the
newspaper reflecting them all, ministering to them all, and itself minister-
ing to all in turn, is better, broader, stronger now than it was before.
That is why old is young, and age is youth; and a century is an evidence
not of senility, but of lusty juvenescence in journalism. For that reason
the sixty-one years' voung Eagle salutes the one hundred vears' voung
Evening Post and wishes to it innumerable renewals of an everlasting lite.
[Applause.]

" The Eagle is able to do this, not merely from the standpoint of its
own length and strength ot da\s, but also from the fact that the Evening Post
and itselt are more really in sympathy than their frequent controversies would
superficially indicate. Between the two papers have been differences of views,
but the outlook has always been on the same road. Between them have been
almost quarrels about methods, but the objects each has sought have been
spiritualh' the same. Between them have been variances of estimate ot parties
and of personages. But that has been due more to the many sides which such
parties and personages have presented to observation than to any serious dis-
agreement about the essentials of character, or of policy, or of purpose to be
considered. Colonel Damas, by the pen of Bulwer, said : ' I alwavs like a
man after I have fought with him.' The rest goes without saving. [Laughter
and applause.]

" From the first year of the Presidency of Jeiferson to the first year of the
Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt is a long crv. In all that time the Evening
Post has been a newspaper and an opinion paper. In all that time statesmen,
scholars, moralists, and divines have been di\ided concerning the Evening Post
into two classes : those who agreed with it and those who disagreed with it.
Quite often the same man has belonged to both classes, for he would agree
with the paper in part and disagree with it in other part. That indi-
cates strong writers and strong readers. [Applause.] The first make the
second. A constituency which merely echoes an oracle were better made up

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 119

ot marionettes than ot men. A constituency tliat an oracle merelv echoes is
better represented bv a phonograph than a paper. The robustness of the
Evening Post has been its power. The robustness of its readers has been in
turn the inspiration the Evening Post has drawn from them. And among its
readers have been about all the editors of light and of leading in the English-
speaking world. It the editor is a schoolmaster, the Evening Post has been the
schoolmaster of schoolmasters. It a newspaper is a college, the Evening Post
has been the instructor in post-graduate journalism of its century. It may be
even anathematized in the otEces of many organs, but it is unread in none.
[Laughter.] It may be abused, scorned, and hated by every opportunist,
trimmer, or plunderer in public lite, but he tears its censure and he is rebuked
by its conscience in the very marrow of his soul and in the thoughts and intents
of his heart. The Evening Post mav be criticised, quarrelled with, and even
denounced bv its tellow-retormers, tor it never sleeps, and even when it goes
to bed it keeps one e\'e open, and has both spurs on. But, all the same, its
tellow-reformers and itselt soon get together again, each realizing that Jordan is
a hard road to travel, and that while it is given to good men to wish alike and
to hope alike and to work alike, it is not given to them to see and to think
alike. | Applause.]

" One need not call the roll ot the great men gone who made the Evening
Post and whom in large part the Evening Post made. They are a precious posses-
sion, and they will receive appropriate honor in our contemporary records and
in history. Nor need one recall the great men still living, but only in retire-
ment, who have sustained relations ot service to the Evening Post and to the
Government. Thev can speak for themselves ot the past which thev represent
to the men ot the present who uncover in honor before them. Nor need one
speak of the men of the Evening Post ot to-day, tor their work speaks for them,
and their work is their crown, their screen, their justification, and their delight.
To-day the Evening Post of the century, epitomized, aggregated, indicated,
and vindicated by the Evening Post ot this afternoon, is the result to con-
gratulate, and its roll ot names, living or dead, is a common roll of uncommon
honor. The Eagle knows that it speaks tor all its brethren in respectable jour-
nalism when it wishes for the Evening Post, and tor the men and women of
the Evening Post, that satisfaction in their work which the fourth estate as a
whole takes out of their work. Such a satisfaction will be more than compen-
sation for all sorrows ot misinterpretation. It will be more than inspiration
for the duties always confronting the earnest press. It will be renewed dedi-
cation to those duties. And that is surely where the conscience of writers,
the culture, and the learning, and the courage ot writers, the rights and needs
of public servants, and the ideals ot public life meet and mingle in a goodly and
glorious fellowship. That fellowship is attested bv the concurrent congratula-
tion and jubilation ot all the press to-day concerning the Evening Post. To-

THE EVENING POST

morrow the press will re-address itself to its niLdtiform functions, but it will
take from to-day a spirit into those duties that should ne\'er be lost. The
Eagle, h'om the baptism ot a solemnizing anniversary, extends the right hand of
help and ot hope to a contemporary which can dedicate the moral and mental
wealth of its first century to the destinies and to the duties of its second."
[Applause.]

Mr. Carl Schurz was then called to the chair and spoke
as follows :

" Ladies and gentlemen : Mr. Hewitt has been unfortunately obliged to
leave, and the charge he had among \'ou has fallen upon m\' unworth\"
shoulders. I have now the honor ot introducing to vou a gentleman who has
achieved high merit in conducting the literary department ot the E\"ening Post,
and who has thus done great service to the literature ot the coiintrx', Mr.
Wendell Phillips Garrison."

Mr. Garrison's remarks were as follows :

" Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen : Mv father, on a memorable
occasion when he was presented with a gold watch before a company resembling
the present, but not so respectable, because in those da\"s ' respectability ' \yas
pro-slaverv — my father said that if it Iiad been a brickbat, he should have
known exactly how to behave; and Mr. Schurz's compliment inflicts upon me
a similar embarassment.

" If I had any general observations to make at this late hour, I tear I could
not avoid repeating what has been so well said, and, I mar add, what was so
obviousb' to be said. If, on reflection, it should seem to me to be worth
while, pierhaps I ma\' ask the Congressional 'leave to print.' As it is, I shall
confine mvselt to the one theme which makes me at all content to be heard on
this occasion.

" You have, gentlemen (to speak only of the li\ing), missed from the
board one figure that shines by its absence. For the larger part ot the twenty
years of the piresent ownership of the Evening Post, Mr. Edwin Lawrence
Godkin was the man who was emphaticalb' the paper. Infirmity has over-
taken him, and he now seeks health and repose on that shore ot England which
faces America, and from which in his early manhood he crossed to this coun-
try, to become one of us, not onh' through the form ot naturalization, but in
the sense in which Washington, fetferson, and Lincoln would have recognized
him as a birthright American. It was m\- singular good fortune to be his
partner and associate in the Nation and the Evening Post tor thirty-five years,
and it seemed to me a private dut\' to speak here the word of admiration and

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY

affectionate remembrance which some one should utter. I believe it is the
opinion of all competent critics that not in our day, or even in the whole range
of American journalism, has a leader-writer appeared so independent, so sane
in judgment, so forcible and philosophic in discussion, so formidable to political
cant and humbug, so quickening to the conscience of his habitual readers. Mr.
Godkin's style will always remain a model for the aspiring journalist, but it was
permeated with a humor, unparalleled in kind and extraordinarily effective,
which was the gift of nature. Hammering incessantly on practicallv one
theme, that public oiEce is a public trust — that politics must be divorced from
the spoils system — his writing was nevertheless distinguished by incredible
freshness and variety, the marvel of those who dailv worked beside him. To
him more than to any other man we owe the measure of civil -service reform which
has been attained in State or nation. [Applause.] In the recent defeat of
Tammany he claims a share through his lifelong teaching that democracy
cannot exist if party names are allowed to shelter combinations for public
plunder for which the only fit designation is brigandage. [Applause.]

"It is true, gentlemen, that Mr. Godkin's labors have ended in dis-
appointment. The American people are far from adopting his standard of
Americanism; the cause for which he contended so persistently and so ably is still
militant, not triumphant. The reason is that its goal was not simply a change
in laws or in institutions, but in the soul of man. The abolition of slavery
must have seemed infinitelv more hopeless than civil-service reform, but,
after all, it was the easier task. Men who had begun it lived to see it achieved.
Mr. Godkin's Thirty Years' War bids fair to outlast another generation.
Let those who witness its conclusion not forget his mighty efforts to purify and
redeem the form of government to which he was unalterably attached."
[Applause.]

Mr. Schurz again took the floor with the following words :

" I shall now have the honor to introduce one of the representative readers
of the Evening Post, and one of the chief illustrations of the legal profession,
not only in the City and State of New York, but of the United States of
America, Mr. James C. Carter." [Applause.]

Mr. Carter replied :

' ' Mr. Chairman and ladies and gentlemen : I feel very proud of the
honor of being on this occasion one of the entertainers of the editorial and pub-
lishing corps of the Evening Post. I feel in that that I am really entertaining an
old and highly valued friend, for such, indeed, the Evening Post has been to me.
When I came, nearly half a century ago, to establish myself in the city of New

THE EVENING POST

York, I came in company with a very dear friend and classmate, long since
deceased, William Sidney Thaver, who would be afFectionately remembered
by Mr. Bigelow and Mr. Godwin if they were here, and who went at once
on the editorial staff of the Evening Post; and from that day to this I have
been a constant and daily reader of the paper and more or less intimate and
familiar with all its editors. I have generally concurred in its opinions. I
have almost let it do my thinking for me, and have been, perhaps, too servile
a follower. [Applause.]

" But I am here, nevertheless, to-day to acknowledge fifty years of the
deepest moral and intellectual indebtedness to it. [Applause.] It is a great
record that it has made for this last century, a great and glorious record. It
was called by Mr. Hewitt an institution ; but let me add that it was an insti-
tution that was composed of men, and never could have been built up except
by men of something like the same temper and quality with those who have
been at the head of it. It was the enterprise and intelligence of Mr. Coleman
that commenced it. It was the ardor of Mr. Leggett, and the fine intellectual
taste, the high moral elevation, and the perfect fearlessness of Mr. Bryant that
established it. [Applause. | That work was noblv and grandly carried on bv
Mr. Godwin, by Mr. Bigelow, and Mr. Schurz himself had a hand in it;
and it was carried forwaid and advanced, as I think, very greatly, for I concur
entirely with Mr. Garrison, bv Mr. Godkin, His disciplined intellect, his
lofty purpose, his brilliant wit, his biting and cutting irony and sarcasm, his
rich humor, alternately grave and gay — all exhibited in an English style of
unrivalled clearness, purity, and power, and always employed in the advocacy
of the noblest causes — these qualities would have made any newspaper in any
country great; nor can we forget the preeminent place which the masterly
work of Mr. White on financial and economical questions had won for it.

"There was in our friend Hewitt's observations — he touched a sen-
timent to which this audience was very responsive — something about the
assumption of superiority by the Evening Post. Well, that may be so; and it
may have excited much antipathy against the paper. I have often heard it
said, ' We love a man for the enemies that he has made,' and I think we may say
that we love the Evening Post for the enemies that it has made; but it is true of
the Evening Post in a little different sense from that in which the observation is
ordinarily made. When we say we love a man for the enemies he has made,
the enemies are commonly among the bad men, and in the case of the Evening
Post the enemies it has made are often among good men, and it is a more sig-
nificant proof of its independence and its virtue.

"I rejoice to say that when anv man in public life in xAmerica has gone
into public life with high ideals, lofty aspirations, great expectations in the
minds of the people, and, after he has got there, begins under a variety of
influences to temporize, to lower his standard because he thinks it necessary in

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 123

order to enable himself to do some great good or in consequence of the presence
and the pressure ot emergencies — in every such instance as that, that man has
received instantly the lash of the Evening Post, and I am glad of it. [Ap-
plause.] Such men are not bad bv an\' means; they are not conscious of
doing anything that is wrong; they are good men striving to do good; tempted
perhaps imduly, sometimes by personal ambitions, sometimes by the over-
whelming pressure of emergencies, but tempted or moved by one reason or
another, they lower the standard which they had originallv raised, and it has
been the business ot the Evening Post, during the fifty years that I have known
anything about it, to uphold and to maintain the highest standards and to
require an obedience to them. It may not be always possible in public life, I
am quite well aware of that, to always act up to the very highest standard —
the circumstances are often very embarrassing; concessions must be made, com-
promises must be made, but still there must be somebody somewhere, a power
somewhere, and a force somewhere, charged with the duty of maintaining
those standards. [Applause.] That has been the business and the function
of the Evening Post for a century, and nobly has the work been performed;
but those good men upon whom its criticism sometimes falls wish tor its
approval, think they are entitled to it, and are disappointed and irritated when
it is withheld and almost hostile to it. This is the highest tribute to its inde-
pendence and honesty. Now, ladies and gentlemen, the time is waning and I
must not protract these remarks. I can only join in the hope that has been
expressed that, for the century to come, the prosperity ot the Evening Post may
equal, may exceed, that which it has been in the past." [Great applause.]

Ill introducing the next speaker Mr. Schurz said :

" It may not be esteemed presumptuous in a presiding officer it he adds
one single word more to the eloquent speech ot Mr. Carter. One of the
principal virtues of the Evening Post has been its courage, its fearlessness — that
is to say, it has not only not been afraid of its opponents, but it has not been
afraid of its friends. [Applause.] And now I have the honor to introduce,
after we have heard from the old and the present generation of the conductors
of the Evening Post, to introduce a gentleman who represents the future, and
who I have no doubt will in the time to come uphold the great ideas which
have prevailed in the time past, Mr. Oswald Garrison Villard."

Mr. Villard responded :

" Mr. Chairman : I welcome the opportunity to speak for the younger
men of the Evening Post, and to express for them our deep gratitude tor this
astounding tribute to the work of the men who have gone before. For some ot

[24 THE EVENING POST

us, tor two or three ot us here, this tribute has especial significance and meaning.
We would be so bold as to appropriate a little of it for one who is no longer
here, but one who made the reorganization of the paper possible in 1881 (Mr.
Henrv Villard). He first showed his patriotism for his adopted country upon
the first field ot Bull Run, upon the shot-swept bridge ot Fredericksburg, and
upon the blood-stained deck ot the Ironsides, and later took the opportunity to
which I have already reterred to give proof of his undying and unbounded love
for his adopted country. [Applause.]

"I, like Mr. Garrison, would take this opportunity to pav mv small
tribute to Mr. Godkin. It was my fortune to be in the ottice for but a
short part of the time of Mr. Godkin's editorship, hut, though it was short, it
was precious beyond words. For what memories could a young man engaged
in journalism take through life with him which would be more inspiring than
those of Mr. Godkin's splendid courage, his unswerving fidelity to his ideals,
and his splendid abilities t I well remember with what zest and keen humor
he used to repeat a story that at one time went the rounds of the press from
the Atlantic to the Pacific and back again; that in the morning, when he called
the editorial staiF together to consult as to the day's editorials, he opened the
proceedings by making them sing 'God Save the Queen.' I do not think
that anything said about him in his whole career amused him so much, or
amused the staff more, who knew that the only thing which actuated Mr.
Godkin in his editorial policy throughout his career was his desire to be of
service to the United States [applause] and to keep it true to its highest
and best ideals, to make it a country to be proud ot at any and all times.

" Mr. Garrison has said that Mr. Godkin was the Evening Post, but,
though a great editor may be essential to a great newspaper, I would ask you
to give part of your kindh' thoughts to-day to the men under the great editor,
without whose loyalty and devotion a great newspaper would, I think, not be
possible. I wish that you might all be with us this evening at the dinner to
the employees of the Evening Post, to see what a splendid set ot men they are.
We think that they are as self-respecting, etBcient, self-reliant, and manly
American workmen as can be tound anywhere. There is no page in our
anniversary number which is more interesting than that which bears the pictures
of three of the oldest and most valued employees of our composing-room; one
who has been with us sixty years, and there are two others, not pictured, who
are now near the fiftieth year ot their continuous service on the Evening Post.
[Applause.]

" Without such loyalty, without such devotion, surely the Evening Post
could not have been the consistently conscientious newspaper which it has been
for one hundred years. And the same is true ot the junior editors, and I may
say this without immodesty, because, with one exception, I am the youngest
on the staff in point of service here to-day, and what I have done is so far too

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 125

little to mention. With hardly an exception these junior editors have upheld
the hands ot the men whose names you have heard — Mr. Coleman, Mr.
Leggett, Mr. Godwin, Mr. Godkin, and Mr. Schurz, and all the rest, and I
am sure that I am not going too far when I ask you to think of them also on
this memorable occasion.

" He would be rash indeed who would prophesy the future of a news-
paper. But as Mr. Schurz has said that I would speak for the younger
element and for the future, I would simply give expression here to the feeling
ot confidence in the future which we have, and which has been so greatly
strengthened by this magnificent assembly. It is not only that the political
conditions of the city and State are so hopeful, and that the growth of the
independent spirit has been so remarkable, as was demonstrated by the last elec-
tion. There is a public readiness to consider questions apart from party interests
greater, I think, than could have been noticed by any of the previous editors of
the Evening Post, and this state of affairs is in itself an incentive to the con-
ductors of the Evening Post when thev face towards the future. The Evening
Post recognizes, too, the great opportunities which the present situation affords
for constructive criticism. There never was, we believe, a time when more
could be done to advance the genuine interests of the city than at the present
moment. The Evening Post has never lost its abiding faith in American insti-
tutions, and I can say for the present management that, so long as it is in con-
trol, it never will lose that faith in the inherent righteousness of the American
people and in the lasting nature of their institutions. [Applause.]

"As in the past when it has discussed public issues, it will be as ' harsh
as truth and as uncompromising as justice,' but it will strive, as it is striving
to-day, not to confuse measures and motives, and to be as judicial and as im-
partial as possible, in accordance with its traditions to which you have done
honor to-dav."

Mr. Schurz then introduced Mr. Andrew Carnegie, as
follows :

"I have now the honor to introduce a gentleman well known to you all,
who has, indeed, not invented the art of making money, but who has invented
the art of spending money on the greatest of scales, who is in a fair way ot
making an incredulous public actually believe that he was in earnest when he
said it was a disgrace to die rich — a gentleman who has already made himself
a benefactor of the age, and, I may add, the chief librarian of the universe."

Mr. Carnegie replied :

" Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the Evening Post : The pen is not
only mightier than the sword, and destined to supersede it, but the one is

126 THE EVENING POST

modest in the extreme, while the other is ever vainglorious. It is to all ot your
admirers here, I am sure, an extreme pleasure to have an opportunity lace to
face to express their grateful thanks to you, the unheralded, unsung, and pub-
licly unknown soldiers of the pen, who so completely merge vour individualitv
in the great campaign you courageously lead against all that debases and in sup-
port of all that elevates human society. To whom among you and in what
measure we who have read the Evening Post from youth to age are indebted
for the good fruits ot its various fields we can never know, for while you are
always willing and even anxious to advertise the works of others, the staff never
advertises itself — so different this from the military spirit exemplified by Hot-
spur, who could pluck bright honor from the pale-faced moon only ' if he
might without co-rival wear all its dignities.' You care not for these baubles,
but find your noble reward in the knowledge of useful work performed.

" I know of no calling, not even the highest, more truly sanctified by the
supreme virtue of self-abnegation, or where there is more of the spirit of the
devotee —

' Whether I stand or crownless fall,
It matters not, so good work be done ' —

than that of the staff of a newspaper like the Evening Post.

" To its owners we desire also to express our gratitude in no stinted
terms. I am glad to hear the names of Garrison and Villard here to-dav —
worthy sons of worthy sires. Through good and ill, from the start till now,
the pecuniary results of the work have never been allowed to dominate, but
ever held subordinate to the duty of upholding what was seen to be right; no
pandering to the popular phrases of the day to increase the profits. In the
whole range of philanthropy there is nothing more truly beneficent, nothing
done in the truer sense for the good of others, no greater service possible to
render man, than to stand unflinchingly for the right, or what seems to be the
right, regardless of pelf. The sacrifice made by the owners of the Evening
Post in this direction ranks with any gift for public ends made by any citizen
of New York during these years, and I hail the fortunate and patriotic pro-
prietors as philanthropists of the first rank.

" There are, broadly, two classes of newspapers. The London Times
represents one, which plays the part ot a political barometer, and, whatever
government is in power, as long as it has overwhelming public opinion behind
it, we see the Times its powerful organ. Its name describes it. The other
class aims to form and lead, and not to follow, public opinion; to lead it and
keep it in the path which carries man upward, preaching always that righteous-
ness which alone exalteth a nation.

" We all have reason to know to which class belongs the great organ of
public opinion which we are met to honor. It has been, and it is, and we
fondly trust always will be, to us and to all the country, not a barometer, but

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 127

a compass pointing steadily to the true path which points to the shining stars
ot higher civilization — to an improved human societv.

" Nor must we forget what we all owe to it tor its immaculate purity.
Not the least important of its many precious services has lain in this, that to
the depraved curiosity which seeks gratification in groping among the putrid
stuff of the gutter, the Evening Post is no ministrant, its columns being filled
with pure and higher matter.

" In its literary department the Evening Post has been true to its pros-
pectus of this day, I 80 1. It promised to devote itself to the spread of sound
literature. Probably no newspaper in our country has exerted so great and so
beneficent an influence in this branch as it has, and here again the trashy,
immoral, vile, but fortunately ephemeral stuff, which is such a demoralizing
agency ot our day, is eschewed by it as unworthy ot its columns. For this
genuine service to the community, thanks.

" We ask ourselves from whence comes the position occupied by the
Evening Post, and the answer is, because of the men, our guests, before us.
They write what they feel to be true; they are honest and speak their own
sentiments; and the air of earnest sincerity exerts a power which nothing else
can give. We see behind every article a personality, a man speaking, not
what is popular or profitable to write, but what he believes, and the man
behind the gun is not relatively more important than the man behind the pen.

" We celebrate to-day the first century of this honest, pure, and fearless
organ ot public opinion. What it was at first it is now, and what it is now
we trust it is to be upon the second centenary; and while the tribute similar to
this which will be given on that occasion may exceed this in numbers as much
as this does its jubilee meeting, yet I make bold to say, gentlemen of the
Evening Post, a more truly representative meeting of New York's best citizens,
or one more deeply appreciative or more grateful for vour labors, cannot pos-
sibly be assembled a century hence in your honor. Nor can the Evening Post
then deserve a greater tribute, for the highest truth it has seen it has clearly
proclaimed, knowing thereby that it does its best in this world; it has stood,
and to-dav stands for whatsoever things are true, tor whatsoever things are
pure, for whatsoever things are of good report.

" A higher standard than this it is impossible to attain.

" Receive, then, our renewed deep and heartfelt thanks, with our earnest
wish for a continuance over successive centuries of your past career of fruitful
usefulness and untarnished honor."

Mr. Schurz then said :

" I have in my hand a card from Professor Moore, ot Columbia Univer-
sity, formulating a dispatch to Mr. Godkin in England. It reads : ' Represent-

128 THE EVENING POST

atives of divers and important interests of tlie country, asseinbled to c
the I ooth anniversary of the Evening Post, send cordial greetings o p

and friendship.' It has been suggested that this cablegram be sent ° "

Godkin to inform him of the esteem and admiration of the guests assembled
here. All those in favor of such a telegram being sent will signity it by
saving ave."

It was unanimously carried. Mr. Schurz then resumed:

" Mr. White has spoken of the financial interests. I shall now call upon
Mr. Joseph C. Hendrix, a representative banker, to express his sentiments
upon that point."

Mr. Hendrix spoke as follows :

" Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen : I am sure it will gratifv vou at
this hour to reflect that the banking vocabulary is a limited one. We cannot
use language like the devotees ot literature and of law and of journalism. It
seems in the presence of Scotchmen like Mr. Carnegie and Mr. Kennedy- to
be wasteful. We can simply sav, ves and no. The important part which the
banking interests ot the city ot New York, and, indeed, of the whole countrv,
have played in the constituency of the Evening Post has been indicated by a
very emphatic 'Yes.' Whatever differences the readers ot the Evening Post
may have with the editors, thev are all resolved into harmony when they come
to the financial page. There it is ajwavs afternoon. The quotations are
accurate, the transcripts of the market are carefully made; there is no color, no
influence. There is no point about yvhich to differ, tor it is all simply a taith-
fi.ll chronicle of the times. With that tribute it is fitting to close, and so I
will, with one additional thought. Mr. Garrison has very eloquently alluded
to the thirty years' war which Mr. Godkin conducted on behalf of civil-
service reform. We of the commercial world would add laurels to Mr. E. L.
Godkin; we admire him; we consider that he was a great meteor passing
across the sky to become a fixed planet forever, to beam upon all those who love
literature and good English. We honor the history of ^^'illiam Cullen Bryant,
and of the great editors like Bigelow and Schurz, and, in the older days, Cole-
man. But, ladies and gentlemen, it is easy to write epitaphs; a great many
men are anxious to write epitaphs; in tact, epitaphs would come easy to the
pen of a great many of these editors. As Mr. Hewitt suggested while he was
here, with his usual incandescence, we want to preserve Mr. Carnegie from
his epitaph until his last cent expires. But eulogy, the opportunity for eulogy
is yet present, and I want to speak it for just a moment. While Mr. Godkin's
strife in the thirty years' war tor ci\'il-service reform is very laudable, let me

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 129

say from the banking world, from that dry and serious plane of life, which is
not phosphorescent and very rarely takes a chance to say anything, that we
recognize and appreciate the service to this country of the luminous editorial
writer in all of the fight for the preservation and final adoption, and the perfect
maintainance of the gold standard in this country — Mr. Horace White.
[Applause.]

" There has never been such turbulent economic thinking in the course
of the world's history as that which we have known in the past two genera-
tions. We have seen a whole nation — a free, independent, vigorous, self-
assertive people — attacking an economic question, and with the bravery and
audacitv with which the American people take up great questions. First, the
question of the greenbacks; then in all its collateral issues the depreciated
silver dollar, then international bimetallism, and various suggestions of ratios,
until finallv the victory was won in behalf of the gold standard, bringing us
into relation with all of the civilization of the earth; and throughout all these
davs we had the patient schoolmaster, who without harangue, without anv
attempted eloquence, sat upon his editorial tripod, and attacked one tallacv after
another, as it made its appearance in public debate and public discussion, and
saw the full effulgence of the victor^', and did not once sav, ' Throw a rose
at me.' [Applause.]

'' It has been mv fortune, ladies and gentlemen, to know of the value of
this gentleman's work, and to be able to measure it. It is mv privilege and
my honor to be able here in behalf not only of the bankers of New York, but
in behalf of the bankers of the United States, to testify [turning to Mr. White]
to your splendid services in the final establishment of the gold standard in this
country." [Applause.]

Mr. Schurz again took the floor :

" We have among us one of the highest spiritual dignitaries in this country,
whose presence may be esteemed an especial distinction. I have the honor of
caUing upon his Grace, Archbishop Corrigan." [Applause.]

Archbishop Corrigan responded :

"Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen; I thank you cordially for the
honor of sharing in vour commemoration of so interesting an event as the
Hundredth Anniversary of the founding of the Evening Post. In our young
Republic an existence for a hundred years is a notable span of life, especially
in a case like this which records the wondrous growth of that century and the
gigantic development of the power of the Press. To estimate this growth, we
must bear in mind the almost incredible advance both in the increased facilities

I30 THE EVENING POST

ot printing, as in tlie means ot attaining news bv wire and telephone, in addi-
tion to tlie case and rapidit\' ot communication b\" ^teanl with the entire world.
It is not so long ago — before the la\'ing of the Atlantic cable — that we used to
be regaled with the gratit\ing intelligence of' Five da\s' later news from Europe.'

" Nowhere in the world has the Press found a larger or more receptive
audience than on our shores. Here everv one reads; everv one, even the
poorest, is rich enough to buv the daih papers; here more than elsewhere, in
our characteristic hurr\" to save time and labor, we are willing to allow others
to do our thinking, and to serve us not onlv with the dailv historv ot the world,
but with lines of thought and suggestions of conduct readv tor instant use. As
there is to-dav no po\ver on earth like the power of the Press, so the tempta-
tion to abuse that tremendous torce, or to use it less wiselv, must of necessitv
often present itself", and even at times, in most alluring and seductive mien; and
consequentlv so much the greater is the praise and merit of those who, having
the power to do both good and evil, strive to use it onh" tor beneficent pur-
poses and for the advancement and welfare of their tellow-men.

"It is greatlv to the credit of the Evening Post that such high aims have
been its inspiration; that, avoiding the siren voice of sordid gain and sensation-
alism, it has ever kept before its view the motto of our Empire State, 'Excelsior ',-
that, courteous in dealing with those who hold different views, and willing to hear
their reasons, it has constantly endeavored to promote moralit\", good citizen-
ship, and good government; and therefore let us cordiallv trust that the first
centar\" ot its existence is but the prelude to a still brighter era ot usefulness
and prosperitv; let us hope and trust that Providence mav bless its everx" etFort
tor good, and the old Horatian wish, expressed in his centurv ode, ma\" be
verified in its regard :

* Afterum in lujcrum, meliusque semper,
Prorogat aevum.'

Mr. Schurz here called upon the Secretary, Mr. Frank J.
Mather, to read some ot the letters which had been received.
Mr. Mather said :

" There \vas one name which perhaps more than an^" other touched the
hearts of everv member ot the Committee and ot everv member of the stafi",
the name ot the gentleman whose personalit\" and career had done as much as
anv other in this great community to justifv the existence of the Evening Post,
and to illustrate the force and power of its teachings; and ^vhen this list was
made up it was considered that that name, notwithstanding some recent events
in which there have been some frank differences of opinion, was indispensable
to this list. It was the name of Edw^ard M. Shepard. I \vish to read a letter
from Mr. Shepard.

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 131

" ' No. 172 Congress Street,

" ' Brooklyn, November 15, 1901.

"'Dear Mr. Mather: I am ver\' glad to join with vou and the others
in the invitation to the Evening Post editorial staff". 1 should have communi-
cated with you earlier but for my absence from town during a week past.
My engagements are such as to make it impracticable for me to be present at
the luncheon, although tor man\' reasons 1 should have rejoiced to be there.

" 'I shall alwavs be glad to express, as in the past, and even during wide
differences between the E\'cning Post and myself, 1 have expressed mv appre-
ciation of the extraordinar\- service it has rendered to American public life.
No account of New York, and, indeed, no account of the United States,
would be complete without a tribute to the steadfastness of the Evening Post
in holding up a high standard, both morally and intellectually — not only ,to
those who directly read it, but to the far larger number to whom its light came
through the medium of other journals. Its services in the very early days of
the anti-slavery movement when William Leggett -was its editor, its services
during the civil war, and since then to the civil-service reform cause — all of
these ser\'ices, so conspicuous and fruitful, \N'cre but illustrations of its benehcent
work. Other great services were in causes \N'ith \vhich we are less familiar or
causes which are stiil the subject ot political differences among admirers ot the
Evening Post. Like the rest of us, the Evening Post has, no doubt, some-
times rejoiced to be in majorities; but it has yerv many times and far more
often than the rest of us showed undoubted courage when such courage was rare
in facing popular hostility, or what is still more difficult to face, that hostility of
men who in general sympathies belong to our own class. I shall read it, I
fancy, as long as I live, though I shall probablv wish in the future as I have
wished in the past to have power to alter or temper some of its utterances.
But even if in the future, more often than in the past, to read it sliall be to
me a shirt of Nessus, I hope and trust, and with the utmost earnestness, that
it may, nevertheless, persist, and resoluteh', in the same general course of
editorial comment which has been so tonical to the intellectual and moral life
of our country and so helpful to its best interests.

" ' Very truly \'ours,
(Signed) " ' Edward M. Shepard.' "

Mr. Mather then read three letters more:

" ' No. 48 West Fifh'-ninth Street,

" ' October 28, 1901 .

" ' Dear Mr. Mather : I am sorr\' 1 cannot promise myself the pleasure
of coming to the Evening Post dinner. The Evening Post people are all my

132 THE EVENING POST

very good friends, and I honor their ^'irtuc and integrit\'. But J cannot make
a speech, and public dinners al\va\s spoil one ot m\ precious rest days, now
growing fewer and fewer. Yours sincere) v,

" ' W. D. HOWELI.S.'

" ' New York, Novemlier 16, 1 90 1.

" ' IVI-i" Dear IVIr. White ; 1 am sincerelv sorr\- to lind at the last
moment that, through a confusion of dates, I am engaged at the same hour
to-morrow for the luncheon in honor of the Evening Post and at a luncheon
for a consideralile number of guests at inv own house in the countr}- I

" ' The thirty-five or forty years during which you and 1 have rubbed
along in political disagreement and personal regard make so considerable a part
of the period during which the Evening Post and the Tribune have sustained
similar relations, that it is a serious disappointment to me to find that I cannot
properly be with \-ou to-morrow. I wanted to show by personal presence my
high esteem for the great services and noble record of the Evening Post.

" 'Under \^'illiam Cullen Br\"ant I knew it well, and I was proud in
those da\s to be honored with his friendship, and that ot his associates, John
Bigelow and Parke Godwin. When you and \'illard and Schurz came in, the
old traditions were safe. From my point of v!e\y, \"0U were pretty sure to be
often perversely and pertinaciousU- wrong on non-essentials; but ivhen it came
to the greater matters, we couldn't have helped being together if we had tried.

" ' I am glad you are here to celebrate the hundredth anniversary, and
onl\- w'lsh poor \'illard were with you. May you live as long as you can enjoy
it; and, if it still makes \'0u happy, mnv you continue to preach Free Trade
ever\' da\- to the end !

" ' Wuh cordial regard, and all good wishes, I am,

" ' \^er\' sincerely vours,

" ' Whitelaw Reid. '

" ' November 12, 1901 .

" ' Dear Sir: I regret that nw engagements make it impossible tor me to
take part in the complimentary luncheon to be given to the editors, officers, and
trustees of the Evening Post, in celebration of the one hundredth anniversar)- ot
the foundation of that journal.

"'I hope, however, that I ma\' be permitted to convey, through }0u,
my congratulations to these gentlemen upon the long, useful, and honorable
career of the Evening Post. In particular, 1 should like to recognize in the
fullest maimer the yer\' effective and admirable service it has rendered in the
municipal campaign just closed. 1 trust that the future of the paper may be

HUNDREDTH A N N I \' E R S A R Y 133

worthy ot its past, and that it mav enter with the new century upon a career
ot still greater usefulness. " ' Yours verv truly,

" ' Seth Low.
" ' Mr. F. J. Mather, Secretary, No. 67 Wall St., New York.' "

President J. G. Schurman, ot Cornell University, was next
introduced, and spoke as follows :

" Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen : So much has already been said,
and so admirably said, in appreciation and praise ot the spirit and work ot the
Evening Post, that I belieye it almost impossible to add anything to the general
summary. 1 thought, however, that, instead ot making any formal address on
the topics which, so far as I am concerned, have already been exhausted, you
would permit me at this late hour to record one or two impressions which the
Evening Post makes upon me, an old and constant reader.

"I am struck when I read the Evening Post — and I count no day com-
plete when 1 do not read the Evening Post — I am struck with an intellectual
quality in its articles, which, however ably other papers be conducted, I find
nowhere else. I ask myself what it is, and I perceive that the style is admir-
able; that the writers are steeped in literature, and have the gift ot expressing
themselves with force, grace, and eloquence; but that does not seem to exhaust
the analysis. Somehow the editorials of the Evening Post remind me ot the
investigations of the historian or the experiments of the scientist; the writer is
in the pursuit of truth, he is not retailing what is already established because
his paper is committed to it, nor is he praising some popular idol, who leads
some triumphant party; he is, as Carhde would sa}", in quest of ' the everlast-
ing truth.'

"And the Evening Post brings to bear upon this operation the methods
of the investigator and of the experimenter. It insists On studying causes and
tracing their effects; and it works back from effect to cause. It, as Mr.
Hendrix has said this afternoon, and said truly, the editorials in the Evening
Post have been the most valuable contribution made to the literature of the
currency issue, it is because the currency question was taken back to such ulti-
mate facts as the nature of the crust of the earth, the character ot man, and the
present industrial and financial development of the United States. You ma)-
find these characteristics to some extent in other papers, but nowhere do I
find them so admirably developed and illustrated as in the Evening Post.
[Applause. I

" Then, again, I am always impressed with the fact that the Evening
Post stands for principles and ideals, and recognizes principles and ideals as the
supreme thing in life. This is a matter of the first importance in an age of
colossal wealth, illustrations of which, sir, we have had in this room to-day.

134 THE EVENING POST

The Evening Post has always insisted that life, whether in its individual or
national character, consists not in the abundance ot possessions, but in moral and
intellectual aspiration and achievement. The Evening Post's idols have not
been men of wealth or men of power; its heroes have been the brave, the
true, the honest, the valorous. 1 esteem it, sir, an inestimable boon, not only
to this city and to this State, but to this nation, that we have a paper which so
conspicuously illustrates the supremacy ot moral ideals and intellectual attain-
ments. And what the Evening Post has done for the individual lite, it has
done on a grand scale tor the national life. Others have clamored for increase
of territory, tor enlargement ot army or nav\' — the Evening Post has preached
that righteousness which alone exalteth a nation. [Applause. J And, superior
even as the Evening Post has been, it has never lost taith in the essential good-
ness ot humanity. It has appealed from the passion of to-dav to the sounder
brain ot to-morrow; it has known and tislt that the heart of man was deeper
than the purse ot man. [Applause.]

"I don't say, sir, that in m}' opinion the Evening Post has been alwavs
right. Sometimes I have presumed to differ from it, and, like others who
have spoken to-day, I have at such times sutFered chastisement at its hands,
whether righteous or not it would scarceh' be becoming in me to saw But
all institutions have their impertections, and even the Evening Post has the
defects ot its qualitv.

" Dr. Johnson said: ' I love a good hater.' How that elephantine, tea-
drinking Englishman would have clasped to his bosom the author of some of
the fierce articles I have read in the Evening Post I [Applause.]

"In my opinion, the Evening Post has not at all times done perfect jus-
tice to all the men whom it criticised in its columns. In its admirable devotion
to ideals and principles of the highest kind, I think it has sometimes tailed to
realize the impossibility ot carrying them out immediatelv. Still it is a great
thing, as our friend Mr. Carter has said, to have in the communitv an organ
which stands for principles. And I want to bear testimon\' to the tact that
even when I have thought the Evening Post somew hat premature in laving
dou'n principles, its criticisms have helped none the less in effecting reforms.
Take one example. The E\'ening Post has insisted in the past that football
was a brutal game and should be abolished. Now if I had not been here
to-day I should have been watching the game between Columbia and Cornell
up-town. But I want to say, Mr. Chairman, that it is because the Evening
Post did denounce so unsparingly the roughness and even the brutality ot what
it used to call 'these gladiatorial contests,' that it lias been possible for our
colleges and universities to effect the reform that has been effected in recent
years and make the sport one for gentlemen. Or I will take a more serious
example. I believe that there is not now, and there never was, an\' individual
or set of individuals in the Philippine Islands to whom the United States could

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 135

have delegated the sovereignty over that archipelago which devolved upon us
as a result of the war with Spain; but while I believe that to be the fact, I
want to say that the opposition of the Evening Post to expansion in Asia has
been productive ot great good, and will undoubtedly help to save us, it we are
in danger, from the disasters which overtook the Roman republic when it
began to govern distant colonies by pro-consuls. And so I mav sav that so
sound and true are the principles of the Evening Post, that, even when they
are infected with too much disregard of existing facts and conditions, and
while, perhaps, not contributing to the solution of the problem in hand, they
are valuable lor admonition and discipline, and mav be valuable even for in-
spiration and encouragement.

"I find fault with the Evening Post, Mr. Chairman, because it is too
good. I hear ' Oh, oh,' but more than one speaker has said here to-day that
the Evening Post did his thinking, and he was allowing his cerebral functions
to fall into desuetude. That is a calamity. But seriously the Evening Post
is too good. Its work is so well done that we are all too ready to look up to it
and let it do our thinking for us, and, if perchance we sometimes think for
ourselves — well, I know the educated men of the countrv, and I say they are
really afraid of the Evening Post. [Applause.] When we agree with it it is
all right, but if an educated man differs from the Evening Post, he is afraid of
his life that he has gone wrong.

" So we meet to celebrate a centennial. All readers of the Evening Post
in our several lines, we have come to wish it Godspeed. The friend alike of
the thinker, the scholar, and the teacher; the fellow-laborer with the preacher
and the prophet and the seer; the standard-bearer of justice and liberty and
civic righteousness; the instructor of the educated men who shape public
opinion, whereby the republic is ruled: may the Evening Post, rich in a cen-
tennial harvest of splendid service to America, continue to instruct, aye, and
to exhort and admonish, our children and our children's children, and remain
alwavs what it is to-day, a leading and illustrious organ and exponent of Amer-
ican ideals, American civilization, and American institutions." [Applause.]

Mr. Schurz said in introducing Dr. Patton :

" Ladies and Gentlemen: We shall hear a voice from New jersey, from
a gentleman who stands at the head of an institution which is one ot the prin-
cipal honors of that State, Dr. Patton, President of Princeton University."

President Patton responded :

" Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen: I prize the distinction of being
allowed on this occasion to say just a single word in honor of a great newspaper

136 THE EVENING POST

whose journalistic career is to-dav one hundred years old. In the field of in-
fluence open to it there is a place, and I suppose, perhaps, a legitimate place,
tor different kinds of newspapers. As has been already said, there are partisan
papers, and then there are independent papers; there are papers that accuratel}'
record the fluctuations of public opinion, and there are those which seek to shape
public opinion; there are those which adapt themselves to the public taste, and
there are those which strive to elevate that taste; there are papers which know
what the public likes and which trv to suit it, and there are papers which think
the\' know wliat the public ought to like and which trv to teach it. [Applause.]
And so we are in this way brought face to face \vith a contest which presents
itself so often in life between the actual and the ideal. Living in a world of
ideals is hard business. Virtue's reward, as expressed in the current coin of
the republic, is, I regret to sav, quantitativelv less sometimes than we could
desire. Still, I imagine that there is a certain degree of satisfaction in feeling
that one is leading a forlorn hope, conscientiously willing to occupy a lonelv
place, courageously saving one's sa\-, regardless of consequences. I do not
suppose that our presence here this afternoon implies that we agree in ever^•
respect with all the utterances of the Evening Post. When it talis to the
Evening Post to tell its side, we are sure that it will speak with clearness and with
cogencv. The Evening Post, whether we agree wiih it or w^hether we differ
with it, we must always recognize and honor for the dogged determination
with which it maintains its own convictions, tor the relentless logic and tor the
masterful knowledge of the facts ivith which it defends them. Men of this
world, and communities too, are too apt to follow the line of least resistance,
too apt to consider gain and glorv rather than right and dutv. It is a very
hard thing for the individual to sacrilice advantage, personal advantage, tor
public welfare, and it is, perhaps, still a harder thing for the man who has
succeeded in making that sacrifice to realize that it is onlv a doubtful public
welfare after all uhich is promoted at the cost ot fundamental moral principles;
but unless all standards are worthless, unless all law is custom, unless all
moralitv resolves itself into etiquette, unless good form be understood as the
ideal of social existence, there must be somewhere an obligatory ideal, and,
although it mav sometimes seem as though that ideal had to succumb under the
pressure of hard fact, as though the imperious ought was obliged to capitulate
to the mighty is, unless conscience remains a factor in human life, and while
she keeps her place, the newspaper which is \villing to speak with Nathan-like
directness and plainness of speech and sav, ' Thou art the man,' is a moral
power of inestimable value to any community.

" Now I verilv believe that there is no correct art of living unless there
be a true theorv of living. Public morals and pure politics are at bottom
matters of philosophy — I would not hesitate to go further and sa)- matters of
metaphysics. Intellectual enlightenment and moral quickening are the con-

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 137

ditions precedent of anv reform. I venture to say that the public agencies for
moral regeneration are conspicuously the university, the pulpit, and the press.
I will not undertake to dictate to the pulpit or the press its duties, but I do
venture the assertion that the university, however great or old or wealthy it
may be, which does not lay broadly and deeply the foundations for a
sense of civic responsibility in ample historical knowledge and profound
philosophic reflection is not doing its duty b\' the State. [Applause.] Whether
it be the duty of the university to discuss, and then enunciate, and whether it
be the dutv ot the pulpit and the press afterwards to apply to practical issues, I
do not attempt to say, but I do believe that there never was a greater demand
for both theory and practice, for both principle and its practical appli-
cation to moral issues, than at this present moment. We are face to face with
certain social conditions. I believe that it is the dutv ot the press to help us to
deal with these conditions, both in the matter ot diagnosis and in the matter ot
therapeutics, to tell us exactly what is the matter, to put its finger on the place
and say. Thou ailest here and here, and having rightly diagnosed the dithculty,
to proceed at once to its treatment, and when that treatment is decided upon,
I imagine it will be found to reside not in indiff^erence, not in a laissez-faire
willingness to tall back upon the rude surgery of nature, not in rash resort to
organized authority trom legislation and paternalism; nor is it to be tound in a
contagion, a spasmodic contagion, ot moral earnestness now and then, but it is
to be found in clear, discriminating thinking, in constant vigilance, and in the
practical application on the part ot the individual ot moral principles to the
issues \\'ith which we have to deal. It is in the light ot such considerations as
these that I have great pleasure in joining those who have already spoken this
afternoon in extending congratulations to the Evening Post on its century ot
successful work and service, and in the expression of the turther hope that its
future may be characterized bv that high intellectual ability , that unshaken
courage, that unswerving devotion to what it believes to be right, which have
been the conspicuous attributes of the past." [Applause.]

Mr. Schurz said :

" It is my very pleasant duty to ask a vote ot thanks to the Committee
who have arranged this tribute for this centennial anniversary, and tor the
successtul conducting of it."

The motion was unanimously carried.

Mr. Brownell then addressed the Chair :

" Mr. Chairman, some of us silent worshippers ot the Evening Post ask
leave to join with Mayor Hewitt in the expression which he has made ot the

138 THE EVENING POST

feelings of the guests assembled here, and I offer a resolution, if I may
be heard:

" Resolved, That the thanks of the hosts and guests on this unique occa-
sion be presented to the Hon. Abram S. Hewitt, our chairman and speaker,
for his kindly and genial expression of the sentiments and feeling represented
bv this testimonial."

The motion was seconded and unanimously carried.

Mr. Schurz closed the meeting as follows :

" Now it is mv dutv to adjourn this meeting, which I have no doubt we
have all enjoved to the bottom of our hearts. It was a great privilege to pay
this tribute to a century of honorable and useful achievements, and to express
the wish that the institution whose birthdav we celebrate will continue in its
beneficent career for more centuries to come. We separate with the feeling
that this occasion has been an inspiration to all ot us tor all our days
to come."

The following letters were also received but not read :

November 12, 1 90 1.
F. J. Mather, Esq., New York City.

My Dear Sir: Highlv esteeming the opportunity to be one ot the
guests at the luncheon, and to assist in paying a proper tribute to the very
extraordinarv, perhaps unparalleled, career of the Evening Post, a paper that
I have read regularlv for more than a third of its existence, I regret to have
to say that an engagement in the West, which begins before and does not
conclude until after the date set, will prevent me from being present.

Trulv vours,

1. M. Buckley.

29 Lafavette Place,
New York, November, 8, 1901.
F. J. Mather, Esq.

My Dear Sir: On the date named in your note of the 6th instant I
shall be absent on duty in Ohio.

I beg vou to accept mv heartv congratulations tor those whom you
represent, and all good wishes for the future. Sincere!)- yours,

H. C. Potter.

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 139

St. Bartholome^v's Rector\',

No. 342 Madison Avenue,

November 8, 1 901 .
Mr. F. |. Mather, Secretary.

My Dear Sir: It is witii tlie greatest regret that I find myself unable,
because ot a previous engagement, to accept the Icind invitation of yourself and
others to be present at the complimentary luncheon to be given to the editorial
staff and officers of the Evening Post, on November 16, at i ;30 o'clock.

I would be glad, indeed, to show by my presence on that occasion
my appreciation of the good work which the Evening Post has done throughout
its whole career, for ethics and civics, as well as for its high literary standard.
It certainly deserves recognition and encouragement from all who appreciate
high ideals in journalism; and it is, as I have said above, with the greatest
regret that an imperative engagement prevents me from accepting the kind
invitation ot the Committee. Very truly \'ours,

Da\id H. Greer.

President's Office, Johns Hopkins University,

Baltimore, November 8, igoi.

President Remsen regrets that he will be unable to avail himself of
the courteous invitation ot the Committee to be present at the complimentary
luncheon extended to the Evening Post, Saturday, November 16. He would
be glad to join the Committee in doing honor to those who, thiough simshine
and through storm, hold alott the standard ot clean journalism.

Cambridge, Mass.,

November 9, 1 901 .
F. f. Mather, Esq., Secretary, New York.

Dear Sir: I gready regret that a long-standing engagement prevents
me from accepting the invitation with which 1 have been honored by the
Committee in charge to be present at the complimentary luncheon, to be offered
to the conductors of the Evening Post, on the i6th of November.

I should be glad, were I able, to join in this testimonial to the service
which the Evening Post has rendered during the past century to civilization in
America. Faithfully yours,

Charles Eliot Norton.

November 8, 1901.
Mv Dear Sir: It will give me great pleasure, it in\- health per-
mits, to take part in the reception to be given to the managers ot the Even-

1 40 T H E E Y E N I N G P O S T

ing Post. That journal, by the fidelity with which it has adhered to the
principles ot policy laid down bv its greatest editor, Mr. William Cullen
Bryant, and the ability and character which it has brought to its discussions
highly deserves the admiration and gratitude ot the community.

Yours truly,

Parke Godwin.

November i 6, i 901 .
My Dear Mr. Mather: Most newspapers are like "revolving
lights " — every now and then they leave us in the dark. The Evening Post,
for a full century, has shone clear. My personal sense of obligation to the
Post is very real and deep, and I wish that I could testif' it bv being present
at the luncheon this noon. Unfortunately, the invitation did not reach me
until late \'esterday, and I find it impossible to revise plans previously formed
tor to-da\'. Yours taithtidb',

W. R, Huntington".

Pine Street, corner of Pearl Street.
Mr. F. [. Mather, Secretary, No. 67 Wall Street.

Dear Sir: 1 have \'our invitation to attend the complimentar\- luncheon
which is to be tendered to the Evening Post on Saturday next. I should be
delighted to take part in this testimonial to the Evening Post, and, therefore,
regret ver\' much that 1 shall not be able to be present on that interesting
occasion. Yours ver\' truh',

William B. Dana.
November 8, i 901 .

New York, November 12, I 90 1.

I ^3 East Thirt\-fitth Street.
Mr. F. |. Mather, Secretary.

Dear Sir: 1 have tried to arrange to accept the courteous invitation ten-
dered me tor the 1 6th inst., but am unable to accomplish it. I regret this
deeph', tor I would have been glad to emphasize fvV'<; coiY what I put upon
paper a tew days ago tor the centennial issue ot the Evening Post.

^ ours \'er\" sincerely,

C. H. Parkhurst.

November 9, 1 901 .
Dear Mr. Mather: 1 am much gratified to be included among those
who are invited to the luncheon which is to be given next Saturda\". I cannot

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 141

positively promise to be present, but I expect to be in New York Friday night
and it I can I will go down to the luncheon. With continued regards, I am,

Yours sincerely,

D. C. GlI.MAN.

No. 25 West Fortv-seventh Street,

November 10, 1 90 i .

My Dear Mr, Le«is: I regard it as a privilege to join in the compli-
mentary luncheon to the F.\"ening Post.

I have always known and experienced that the E\-cning Post could be
depended upon to champion the right on all public questions. It has never
sought the roads that lead to preferment. It has at all times sacrificed large
personal interests and upheld principle. It is fitting to honor the brave men
connected with the Evening Post. Hastily yours,

Charles Stewart Smith.

The following trustees, editors, publisher, and counsel of
the stafi- of the Evening Post were the guests of honor at the
luncheon :

Horace White, Wendell Phillips Garrison, Charles A. Spofford, Harold
G. \'illard, Oswald G. Villard, Edward P. Clark, Rollo Ogden, J. Ranken
Tovvse, F. J. Mather, Jr. , H. Parker Willis, Hammond Lamont, Edward
Payson Call, William |. Boies, Henry T. Finck, Arthur F. J. Crandall,
Alexander D. Noves, Franklin Clarkin, Josiah T. Newcomb, Francis E.
Leupp, Philip G. Hubert, |r., Lawrence Godkin.

The invited guests were the following :

Rev. Francis L. Patton, President of Princeton University, Hon. 1. G.
Schurman, President ot Cornell University, Archbishop Corrigan, Rev.
Theodore L. Cuvler, D. D., Adolph S. Ochs, Edward Cary, St. Clair
McKehvav, (ohn W. Dodsworth, Rev. Charles H. Parkhurst, D.D., Hon. lohn
Bigelovv, Hon. Carl Schurz, Hon. Whitelaw Reid, Daniel C. Gilman, LL. D.,
Hon. Seth Low, Parke Godwin, Rev. David H. Greer, Prot. Chas. Sprague
Smith, Arthur T. Hadle\', President of Yale Universit)-, Ira Remsen, Presi-
dent of Johns Hopkins University, Charles Eliot Norton, Rev. lohn W.
Chadwick, [ames B. Reynolds, Rev. James M. Buckley, D.D., William A.
Linn, Philip McK. Garrison.

142

THE EVENING POST

MR. GODKIN'S GRRRTING.

"I regret that I cannot do more than send this line of Godspeed to the
paper into wliich I put so many of the best years and best endeavors of my
life. Mv recollections of the Evening Post go back to the da\s of the ad-
ministration ot Mr. lohn Bigelow, when I wrote one or t\NO articles for it —
one, I remember, upon the East India Company, which was then expiring.
The press was then very different from \vhat it has since become. But that
the Evening Post has, through all its changes ot ownership, stood for righteous-
ness and decency is my recollection, and that it mav so continue, mv hope.

" Eowm L. GorjKiN.

"Torqua\', England, November I."

Siffi